#VU39448 Use-after-free in Binutils - CVE-2017-6966

Vulnerability identifier: #VU39448

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 4.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/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-2017-6966

CWE-ID: CWE-416

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 non-authenticated attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

readelf in GNU Binutils 2.28 has a use-after-free (specifically read-after-free) error while processing multiple, relocated sections in an MSP430 binary. This is caused by mishandling of an invalid symbol index, and mishandling of state across invocations.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Binutils: 2.28

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External links
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201709-02
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=21139

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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.