How severe is CVE-2017-7614?

CVE-2017-7614 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.8, rated critical severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.

Is CVE-2017-7614 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 4% (89th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2017-7614?

CVE-2017-7614 affects Gnu Binutils. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2017-7614?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its critical severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2017-7614 published?

CVE-2017-7614 was published on 2017-04-09 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2017-7614

CVE-2017-7614 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Gnu Binutils with a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.8. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-476.

Key facts

Severity: Critical (CVSS 3.x base score 9.8)
CVSS v2: 7.5
EPSS exploit prediction: 4% (89th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-476
Affected product: Gnu Binutils
Published: 2017-04-09
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

elflink.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.28, has a "member access within null pointer" undefined behavior issue, which might allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via an "int main() {return 0;}" program.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-7614?: elflink.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.28, has a "member access within null pointer" undefined behavior issue, which might allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via an "int main() {return 0;}" program.
How severe is CVE-2017-7614?: CVE-2017-7614 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.8, rated critical severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.
Is CVE-2017-7614 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 4% (89th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2017-7614?: CVE-2017-7614 affects Gnu Binutils. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2017-7614?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its critical severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2017-7614 published?: CVE-2017-7614 was published on 2017-04-09 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:2.28:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Gnu Binutils

CVE-2018-12699 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): finish_stab in stabs.c in GNU Binutils 2.30 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer overflow)…
CVE-2014-9939 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): ihex.c in GNU Binutils before 2.26 contains a stack buffer overflow when printing bad bytes in Intel Hex objects.
CVE-2017-7226 — Critical (CVSS 9.1): The pe_ILF_object_p function in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils…
CVE-2017-6969 — Critical (CVSS 9.1): readelf in GNU Binutils 2.28 is vulnerable to a heap-based buffer over-read while processing corrupt RL78 binaries. The…
CVE-2020-19726 — High (CVSS 8.8): An issue was discovered in binutils libbfd.c 2.36 relating to the auxiliary symbol data allows attackers to read or…
CVE-2026-6846 — High (CVSS 7.8): A flaw was found in binutils. A heap-buffer-overflow vulnerability exists when processing a specially crafted XCOFF…

All CVEs affecting Gnu Binutils →

Other CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) vulnerabilities

CVE-2022-36648 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The hardware emulation in the of_dpa_cmd_add_l2_flood of rocker device model in QEMU, as used in 7.0.0 and earlier,…
CVE-2020-14500 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Secomea GateManager all versions prior to 9.2c, An attacker can send a negative value and overwrite arbitrary data.
CVE-2010-2495 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The pppol2tp_xmit function in drivers/net/pppol2tp.c in the L2TP implementation in the Linux kernel before 2.6.34 does…
CVE-2026-46195 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: validate dacloffset before building…
CVE-2026-31657 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: batman-adv: hold claim backbone gateways by…
CVE-2026-31436 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: idxd: fix possible wrong descriptor…

Browse all CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) vulnerabilities →