#VU24444 Infinite loop in Binutils - CVE-2019-17450

Vulnerability identifier: #VU24444

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 2.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-17450

CWE-ID: CWE-835

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Binutils
Universal components / Libraries / Libraries used by multiple products

Vendor: GNU

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to infinite loop when processing ELF files within the find_abstract_instance() function in dwarf2.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd). A remote attacker can consume all available system resources and cause denial of service conditions.

Mitigation
Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Binutils: 2.32

---

External links
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=25078

---

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.