#VU38981 NULL pointer dereference in Binutils - CVE-2017-9040

Vulnerability identifier: #VU38981

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 4 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2017-9040

CWE-ID: CWE-476

Exploitation vector: Local

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 a NULL pointer dereference error. A remote attacker can trigger denial of service conditions via a crafted ELF file that triggers a large memory-allocation attempt.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Binutils: 2.28

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External links
https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/98579
https://blogs.gentoo.org/ago/2017/05/12/binutils-multiple-crashes/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201709-02
https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=7296a62a2a237f6b1ad8db8c38b090e9f592c8cf

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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