CVE-2017-12459 [High] | Out-of-bounds Write in Binutils

The bfd_mach_o_read_symtab_strtab function in bfd/mach-o.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.29 and earlier, allows remote attackers to cause an out of bounds heap write and possibly achieve code execution via a crafted mach-o file.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-21	1.82%	1.89%	+0.07%
2	2026-06-15	0.42%	1.82%	+1.40%
3	2026-04-07	—	0.42%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-21

1.82%

1.89%

+0.07%

2026-06-15

0.42%

1.82%

+1.40%

2026-04-07

—

0.42%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.8	3.0	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	5.9	[email protected]
6.8	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:M) Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:P) Partial confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:P) Partial integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	8.6	6.4	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.8

3.0

HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

5.9

[email protected]

6.8

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M): Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P): Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P): Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

8.6

6.4

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-12459

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2017-12459 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (binutils), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-12459
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-12459
`suse`	medium	CVE-2017-12459 severity moderate: SUSE including 6 source package names (binutils, binutils-devel, binutils-devel-32bit, binutils-gold, libctf-nobfd0, libctf0), 57 product×package rows across 22 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.5, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7, … (22 product lines)): Known Not Affected 57.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-12459/
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2017-12459 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (binutils), 21 status rows across 21 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial, zesty): not-affected 17, released 2, ignored 1, needed 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-12459

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-12459

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
gnu	binutils	<= 2.29	cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils::::::::

References for CVE-2017-12459

URL	Tags
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=21840	Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2017-12459

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-12459

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-12459

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-12459

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-12459

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-12459

References for CVE-2017-12459