# CVE-2021-3530: Denial of service in binutils

> A crafted symbol in GNU libiberty causes stack exhaustion and crashes, leading to denial of service for applications using the library.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Jun 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** CVE-2021-3648, DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3530, GHSA-54mp-4694-9j92, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-3530

## What is CVE-2021-3530?

CVE-2021-3530 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 2 Jun 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was discovered in GNU libiberty within demangle_path() in rust-demangle.c, as distributed in GNU Binutils version 2.36. A crafted symbol can cause stack memory to be exhausted leading to a crash.

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-3530?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Gnu Binutils, Netapp Ontap Select Deploy Administration Utility.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-3530?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-3530 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3530 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-2021-3530 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-3530 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 2 Jun 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3530 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-2021-3530/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3530/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-3530
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3530
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-3530

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3530/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.