CVE-2018-19931

An issue was discovered in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils through 2.31. There is a heap-based buffer overflow in bfd_elf32_swap_phdr_in in elfcode.h because the number of program headers is not restricted.

Published: 2018-12-07 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-19931 is rated Moderate Risk (56.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.47%). EPSS rose +1.15% 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-2018-19931

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 0.32% 1.47% +1.15%
2 2026-03-03 0.50% 0.32% -0.18%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.50% —

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-19931

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-19931

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-19931

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2018-19931: 1 source package rows (binutils); 15 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 5. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-19931
debian unimportant CVE-2018-19931 unimportant 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-2018-19931
gentoo normal CVE-2018-19931: 1 GLSA(s) (201908-01), 1 atom(s) (sys-devel/binutils); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-19931
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-19931
suse low CVE-2018-19931 severity low: SUSE including 360 source package names (0.23.1-12.3:binutils-2.32-7.5.1, 0.3.2-1.2:binutils-2.32-7.5.1, …), 766 product×package rows across 318 product lines (Container bci/bci-sle15-kernel-module-devel, Container bci/gcc, … (318 product lines)): Fixed 535, Known Affected 231. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-19931/
ubuntu low CVE-2018-19931 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (binutils), 19 status rows across 19 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 14, released 2, ignored 1, needed 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-19931

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-19931

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu binutils <= 2.31 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp vasa_provider >= 7.2 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:vasa_provider:*:*:*:*:*:clustered_data_ontap:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-19931

cvelogic Threat Intelligence