CVE-2019-9075
Description
From CVE.org
An issue was discovered in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.32. It is a heap-based buffer overflow in _bfd_archive_64_bit_slurp_armap in archive64.c.
Statement
The issue is classified as moderate severity primarily because binutils is not typically exposed to untrusted inputs in most environments, limiting its exploitation potential. Moreover, binutils does not handle privileged operations, meaning exploitation is unlikely to lead to system compromise or escalation of privileges. Additionally, the impact is localized to the application itself, without affecting the broader system or network security.
As per upstream binutils security policy this issue is not considered as a security flaw. Basically the key element of the policy that affects this is the understanding that analysis of untrusted binaries must always be done in a sandbox because the ELF format is open ended enough to make the analysis tools do anything, like including and processing arbitrary files. This eliminates the only possible vulnerability vector here, which is the possibility of a user being tricked into downloading and analyzing an untrusted ELF without sandboxing.
See the binutils security policy for more details: https://sourceware.org/cgit/binutils-gdb/tree/binutils/SECURITY.txt
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.3 | 7.8 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | Local | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | None | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | Required | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | Low | High | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | Low | High | N/A |
| Availability Impact | Low | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
Buffer overflows generally lead to crashes. Other attacks leading to lack of availability are possible, including putting the program into an infinite loop.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Modify Memory
Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy. Besides important user data, heap-based overflows can be used to overwrite function pointers that may be living in memory, pointing it to the attacker's code. Even in applications that do not explicitly use function pointers, the run-time will usually leave many in memory. For example, object methods in C++ are generally implemented using function pointers. Even in C programs, there is often a global offset table used by the underlying runtime.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control,Other
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other
When the consequence is arbitrary code execution, this can often be used to subvert any other security service.
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