# CVE-2023-1972: Memory corruption in binutils

> A heap-based buffer overflow in binutils can cause a denial of service when processing malicious ELF files.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 17 May 2023
- **Updated:** 22 Jan 2025
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2023-1972, AZL-26754, BELL-CVE-2023-1972, CLEANSTART-2025-PC19077, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-1972, ECHO-9454-efce-116b, GHSA-gxpx-hfgx-m75g, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2023-1972, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-1972

## What is CVE-2023-1972?

CVE-2023-1972 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 17 May 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

A potential heap based buffer overflow was found in _bfd_elf_slurp_version_tables() in bfd/elf.c. This may lead to loss of availability.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-1972?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Binutils.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-1972?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-1972 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-1972 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-2023-1972 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-1972 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 17 May 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: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-1972 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-2023-1972/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-1972/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-1972
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-1972
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-1972

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-1972/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.