How severe is CVE-2018-18309?

CVE-2018-18309 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2018-18309 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 2% (76th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2018-18309?

CVE-2018-18309 affects Gnu Binutils. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2018-18309?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2018-18309 published?

CVE-2018-18309 was published on 2018-10-15 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2018-18309

CVE-2018-18309 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Gnu Binutils with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5. 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-119.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 5.5)
CVSS v2: 4.3
EPSS exploit prediction: 2% (76th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-119
Affected product: Gnu Binutils
Published: 2018-10-15
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

An issue was discovered in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.31. An invalid memory address dereference was discovered in read_reloc in reloc.c. The vulnerability causes a segmentation fault and application crash, which leads to denial of service, as demonstrated by objdump, because of missing _bfd_clear_contents bounds checking.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-18309?: An issue was discovered in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.31. An invalid memory address dereference was discovered in read_reloc in reloc.c. The vulnerability causes a segmentation fault and application crash, which leads to denial of service, as demonstrated by objdump, because of missing _bfd_clear_contents bounds checking.
How severe is CVE-2018-18309?: CVE-2018-18309 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2018-18309 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 2% (76th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2018-18309?: CVE-2018-18309 affects Gnu Binutils. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2018-18309?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2018-18309 published?: CVE-2018-18309 was published on 2018-10-15 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:2.31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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