# CVE-2020-19726: Denial of service in n/a

> Attackers can cause denial of service or read/write system memory via auxiliary symbol data in binutils libbfd.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 Aug 2023
- **Updated:** 4 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** CLSA-2023-1696879225, CLSA-2023-1696880132, CLSA-2023-1696970948, CLSA-2023-1696971066, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-19726, GHSA-r7qv-f5p4-f3qr, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-19726

## What is CVE-2020-19726?

CVE-2020-19726 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 22 Aug 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in binutils libbfd.c 2.36 relating to the auxiliary symbol data allows attackers to read or write to system memory or cause a denial of service.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-19726?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Binutils.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-19726?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2020-19726 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2020-19726 exists.

## 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-2026-6846](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6846/): Binutils: binutils: arbitrary code execution via malformed xcoff object file processing (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-19726 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-19726 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 22 Aug 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2020-19726 exists.

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-2020-19726/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-19726/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-19726
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-19726
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-19726

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-19726/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.