VYPR
← All advisories
Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Dec 27, 2020· Updated Aug 4, 2024

CVE-2020-35448

CVE-2020-35448

Description

A heap-based buffer over-read in GNU Binutils 2.35.1's BFD library via unvalidated sh_entsize in _bfd_elf_slurp_secondary_reloc_section can cause denial of service.

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

A heap-based buffer over-read in GNU Binutils 2.35.1's BFD library via unvalidated sh_entsize in _bfd_elf_slurp_secondary_reloc_section can cause denial of service.

Vulnerability

A heap-based buffer over-read vulnerability exists in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library distributed with GNU Binutils version 2.35.1. The bug resides in the _bfd_elf_slurp_secondary_reloc_section function in elf.c; it fails to validate the sh_entsize field before using it in bfd_getl_signed_32 inside libbfd.c. This lack of validation leads to an out-of-bounds read when processing crafted ELF files. [1]

Exploitation

An attacker can trigger this vulnerability by providing a specially crafted ELF binary file. No authentication or special privileges are required—the victim only needs to open the file with a Binutils tool that relies on the BFD library (e.g., objdump, readelf). The attacker controls the ELF section header ent size value, which is used without bounds checking, causing the over-read. [1]

Impact

Successful exploitation results in a heap-based buffer over-read, which can lead to a denial of service (application crash) or potentially information disclosure through out-of-bounds memory access. The vulnerability does not allow remote code execution based on the available references. [1]

Mitigation

The vulnerability is fixed in GNU Binutils version 2.35.2. Gentoo users can upgrade by running: emerge --sync && emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=sys-devel/binutils-2.35.2". No known workaround exists for unpatched versions. [1]

References
  1. Multiple vulnerabilities (GLSA 202107-24) — Gentoo security

AI Insight generated on May 26, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected products

83

Patches

0

No patches discovered yet.

Vulnerability mechanics

AI mechanics synthesis has not run for this CVE yet.

References

3

News mentions

0

No linked articles in our index yet.