# CVE-2018-20002: Denial of service in n/a

> A crafted ELF file causes a memory leak in the BFD library, leading to denial of service via memory consumption.

- **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:** 10 Dec 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2018-20002, CLEANSTART-2025-FE06703, DEBIAN-CVE-2018-20002, GHSA-hrvr-8x4g-x94c, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-20002

## What is CVE-2018-20002?

CVE-2018-20002 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 10 Dec 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 _bfd_generic_read_minisymbols function in syms.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.31, has a memory leak via a crafted ELF file, leading to a denial of service (memory consumption), as demonstrated by nm.

Weakness: CWE-772 (Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-20002?

It affects 3 products.


Products: F5 Traffix Signaling Delivery Controller, Gnu Binutils, Netapp Vasa Provider.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-20002?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2018-20002 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-20002 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gnu Binutils

- [CVE-2019-13050](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-13050/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2018-20657](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20657/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2015-5738](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5738/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2022-27662](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-27662/): Code injection in Traffix SDC (medium 4.8)
- [CVE-2022-27880](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-27880/): Cross-site scripting in Traffix SDC (medium 4.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-20002 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-20002 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 10 Dec 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-2018-20002 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-2018-20002/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20002/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-20002
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-20002
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-20002

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20002/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.