Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories
CVE-2017-7226: GNU Binutils: Buffer overflow
CVE-2017-7226 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.1 and affects GNU Binutils. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction.
Vulnerability description
The pe_ILF_object_p function in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.28, is vulnerable to a heap-based buffer over-read of size 4049 because it uses the strlen function instead of strnlen, leading to program crashes in several utilities such as addr2line, size, and strings. It could lead to information disclosure as well.
Severity breakdown
CVSS v3.0 9.1: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
- Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
- Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
- Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
- User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
- Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
- Integrity impact: None. No loss of integrity.
- Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.
Underlying weakness
CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read
The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.
Affected products
- GNU Binutils: 2.28