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Fencer Intel
medium 5.5

CVE-2018-6872 json

The elf_parse_notes function in elf.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.30, allows…

published 2018-02-09 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-18618

cvss
5.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.2%
EPSS 2.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 82%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The elf_parse_notes function in elf.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.30, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and segmentation violation) via a note with a large alignment.

Patch / fix

  • binutils Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.30-4

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-6872

  • binutils Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 2.30-20ubuntu2~18.04

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-6872

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • binutils SLE Module for Package Hub 15, SLE Module for Development Tools 15, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 2.32-6.8.1
  • binutils SLE Module for Package Hub 15 SP1, SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP1, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 2.32-7.5.1
  • binutils SLES 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP2-BCL, SLED 12 SP3 +9 more 2.31-9.26.1
  • cross-ppc-binutils SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP3 2.31-9.26.1
  • cross-spu-binutils SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP3 2.31-9.26.1
  • binutils SLE Module for Development Tools 15, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 2.31-6.3.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2019:2780-1SUSE-SU-2019:2779-1SUSE-SU-2018:3207-2SUSE-SU-2018:3207-1SUSE-SU-2018:3170-1

  • binutils openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.37-1.3
  • binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-rx-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-arm-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-avr-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-ppc-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-spu-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-hppa-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10651-1openSUSE-SU-2019:2432-1openSUSE-SU-2019:2415-1

  • binutils Alpine 3.7 2.30-r2
  • binutils Alpine 3.8 2.30-r6

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2018-6872

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2018-6872 updated cvss 3.3

binutils: out of bounds read in elf_parse_notes function in elf.c file in libbfd library

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 binutils, binutils220 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 binutils Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 binutils Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 binutils
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

2.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 82% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • sourceware.org https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=22788 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 5.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.