A flaw was found in the readelf utility of the binutils package. A local attacker could exploit two Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerabilities by providing a specially crafted Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) file. One vulnerability, a resource exhaustion (CWE-400), can lead to an out-of-memory condition. The other, a null pointer dereference (CWE-476), can cause a segmentation fault. Both issues can result in the readelf utility becoming unresponsive or crashing, leading to a denial of service.
Weakness
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
Affected Software
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binutils | Gnu | - (including) | - (including) |
| Hardened_images | Redhat | - (including) | - (including) |
| Openshift_container_platform | Redhat | 4.0 (including) | 4.0 (including) |
| Enterprise_linux | Redhat | 7.0 (including) | 7.0 (including) |
| Enterprise_linux | Redhat | 8.0 (including) | 8.0 (including) |
| Enterprise_linux | Redhat | 9.0 (including) | 9.0 (including) |
| Enterprise_linux | Redhat | 10.0 (including) | 10.0 (including) |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | esm-infra/xenial | * |
Potential Mitigations
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:
The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.
The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.
Related Attack Patterns
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/147.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/227.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/492.html