gdb: Malformed section in an ELF binary or a core file can cause memory exhaustion
Published Jun 21, 2017
5.5
MEDIUMCVSS 3.0
EPSS 1.11%
Description
GNU Debugger (GDB) 8.0 and earlier fails to detect a negative length field in a DWARF section. A malformed section in an ELF binary or a core file can cause GDB to repeatedly allocate memory until a process limit is reached. This can, for example, impede efforts to analyze malware with GDB.
Affected products
No data.
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
gdb
Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
gdb
Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
gdb
Will not fix
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | gdb | Will not fix | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | gdb | Will not fix | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | gdb | Will not fix | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
1 other source (Red Hat) ▾
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2021–2026- EPSS v1
- EPSS v5
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
Percentile over time
- EPSS v1
- EPSS v5
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
Table of values (9 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 1.11% (0.01113) | 64.77th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Aug 23, 2026 | 1.69% (0.01693) | 74.97th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jul 20, 2024 | 0.06% (0.00057) | 24.05th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| May 17, 2024 | 0.06% (0.00057) | 22.91th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.06% (0.00055) | 20.91th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 0.89% (0.00885) | 27.89th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 0.89% (0.00885) | 10.50th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 3, 2022 | 0.62% (0.00624) | 17.80th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Apr 14, 2021 | 0.62% (0.00624) | 0.00th | v1 |
References (6)
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/99244 vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-9778 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1466255 Issue Tracking
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-9778
- https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=21600 x_refsource_CONFIRMIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-9778
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/99244 | vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry | |
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-9778 | Vendor Advisory | |
| https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1466255 | Issue Tracking | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-9778 | ||
| https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=21600 | x_refsource_CONFIRMIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory | |
| https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-9778 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.