CVE-2017-14938

_bfd_elf_slurp_version_tables in elf.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.29, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (excessive memory allocation and application crash) via a crafted ELF file.

Published: 2017-09-29 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-14938 is rated Moderate Risk (50.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.02%). EPSS rose +1.49% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-14938

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.53% 2.02% +1.49%
2 2025-06-19 0.13% 0.53% +0.40%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.13% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-14938

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-14938

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-14938

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2017-14938 low 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-2017-14938
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-14938
suse medium CVE-2017-14938 severity moderate: SUSE including 4 source package names (binutils, binutils-devel, binutils-devel-32bit, binutils-gold), 8 product×package rows across 5 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 for Teradata, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 LTSS, … (5 product lines)): Known Not Affected 8. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-14938/
ubuntu low CVE-2017-14938 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 16, ignored 2, released 2, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-14938

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-14938

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

References for CVE-2017-14938

cvelogic Threat Intelligence