# CVE-2018-10535: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via a crafted file due to a NULL pointer dereference in the BFD library's symbol handling.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 29 Apr 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2018-10535, GHSA-369x-mphv-h9f7, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-10535

## What is CVE-2018-10535?

CVE-2018-10535 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 29 Apr 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The ignore_section_sym function in elf.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.30, does not validate the output_section pointer in the case of a symtab entry with a "SECTION" type that has a "0" value, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via a crafted file, as demonstrated by objcopy.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-10535?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Gnu Binutils, Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server, Redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-10535?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2018-10535 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-10535 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gnu Binutils

- [CVE-2017-7614](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7614/): Null dereference in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-9939](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-9939/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-7226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7226/): Information disclosure in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2017-6969](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6969/): Information disclosure in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2020-19726](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-19726/): Denial of service in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-10535 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-10535 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 29 Apr 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-10535 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gnu Binutils. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10535/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10535/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-10535
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-10535
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-10535

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10535/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.