A problematic vulnerability (CVE-2025-1153) has been discovered in GNU Binutils 2.43/2.44, which can lead to memory corruption. The vulnerable function is bfd_set_format found in the file format.c. This vulnerability can be exploited remotely, but has a high complexity and is difficult to execute in practice. To mitigate this issue, it is recommended to upgrade to GNU Binutils version 2.45. The patch identifier is 8d97c1a53f3dc9fd8e1ccdb039b8a33d50133150.

Vulnerability Details

The vulnerability is found in the bfd_set_format function of the file format.c in GNU Binutils 2.43/2.44. The issue arises from improper handling of input data, which leads to memory corruption. An attacker can exploit this remotely, but it requires a high level of expertise to execute.

Below is the code snippet that showcases the vulnerability

/* Set the file format of the BFD abfd to format.  Return true if the
   format was set successfully, false otherwise.  */

bool
bfd_set_format (bfd *abfd, bfd_format format)
{
[...]
}

For more information about the vulnerability and its impact, refer to the original sources

1. GNU Binutils Homepage
2. CVE-2025-1153 Official CVE Reference
3. GNU Binutils 2.45 Release Notes

Exploit Details

Exploiting this vulnerability requires a high level of skill and expertise. Due to the complexity involved, executing a successful attack is considered difficult. However, if exploited, it can lead to memory corruption, which may allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information or cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected system.

Mitigation

To address this vulnerability, it is advised to upgrade GNU Binutils to version 2.45. The patch identifier for this version is 8d97c1a53f3dc9fd8e1ccdb039b8a33d50133150.

You can download the patched version 2.45 from GNU Binutils 2.45 Official Download Link.

Extract the tarball and navigate to the extracted directory.

3. Run ./configure && make && make install to install the upgraded version.

After completing the upgrade, verify that the newly installed version is 2.45 by running binutils --version.

Conclusion

The memory corruption vulnerability in GNU Binutils 2.43/2.44 is classified as problematic due to its potential impact on affected systems. While it is difficult to exploit, it is still essential to mitigate the issue by upgrading to GNU Binutils 2.45 using the patch 8d97c1a53f3dc9fd8e1ccdb039b8a33d50133150 to prevent any potential security risks.

Timeline

Published on: 02/10/2025 19:15:39 UTC
Last modified on: 03/03/2025 16:52:20 UTC