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binutils: NULL pointer dereference in _bfd_add_merge_section in merge_strings function in merge.c

Published Oct 23, 2018

Description

An issue was discovered in the merge_strings function in merge.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.31. There is a NULL pointer dereference in _bfd_add_merge_section when attempting to merge sections with large alignments. A specially crafted ELF allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service, as demonstrated by ld.

Affected products

Remediation

Red Hat statement

This issue is classified with a low severity primarily because binutils is not typically exposed to untrusted inputs in most environments, limiting the possibility of exploitation. Additionally, this NULL pointer dereference is only triggered during the parsing of a specially crafted file, requiring an attacker to convince a user to process this file with ld. Furthermore, binutils does not handle privileged operations, meaning that exploitation is unlikely to lead to system compromise or escalation of privileges. Also, the impact is limited to the application itself, without affecting the broader system or network security.

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Sources
CVE.org / MITRE
Status PUBLISHED
Assigner mitre
Published Oct 23, 2018
Updated Aug 5, 2024
Reserved Oct 23, 2018
NVD
Status Modified
Modified Jun 17, 2026
Red Hat
Severity Low
Public date Oct 21, 2018