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CVE-2018-20651

21
FAUCET Score

CVE-2018-20651 describes a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (libbfd), specifically in the elf_link_add_object_symbols function, as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.31.1. This flaw can be triggered by a specially crafted ELF file (ET_DYN with no program headers), leading to a denial of service. Rated as Medium severity (CVSS 5.5), it requires local access and user interaction (e.g., opening the malicious file) to exploit, resulting in high availability impact. There is no evidence of active exploitation, public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), or significant community discussion or media coverage.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
2.31.1CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:2.31.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

5.5MEDIUM

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
NONE
Integrity Impact
NONE
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
3.6
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
2.25%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
81.1%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-28
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0225 is in the 91st percentile among its peer group of 5,765 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.0 Bluesky, 0.0 Mastodon, and 0.1 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.1 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Vendor Patches (2)

redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Fixed in: binutils
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Fixed in: mingw-binutils

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2018-20651Low

binutils: NULL pointer dereference in elf_link_add_object_symbols function resulting in a denial of service

Dec 28, 2018

References

lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2019-10/msg00072.html
lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00008.html
security.gentoo.org / glsa/201908-01
sourceware.org / bugzilla/show_bug.cgi
ExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
sourceware.org / git/gitweb.cgi
support.f5.com / csp/article/K38336243
Third Party Advisory
usn.ubuntu.com / 4336-1
securityfocus.com / bid/106440
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry