CVE-2018-6759 [Medium] | Input Validation Bypass in Binutils

The bfd_get_debug_link_info_1 function in opncls.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.30, has an unchecked strnlen operation. Remote attackers could leverage this vulnerability to cause a denial of service (segmentation fault) via a crafted ELF file.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.22%	2.13%	+1.91%
2	2025-08-30	0.14%	0.22%	+0.08%
3	2025-08-18	—	0.14%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.22%

2.13%

+1.91%

2025-08-30

0.14%

0.22%

+0.08%

2025-08-18

—

0.14%

—

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]

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]

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-6759

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2018-6759 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-2018-6759
`gentoo`	normal	CVE-2018-6759: 1 GLSA(s) (201811-17), 1 atom(s) (sys-devel/binutils); latest impact normal.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-6759
`redhat`	low	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6759
`suse`	medium	CVE-2018-6759 severity moderate: SUSE including 386 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, …), 805 product×package rows across 326 product lines (Container bci/bci-sle15-kernel-module-devel, Container bci/gcc, … (326 product lines)): Fixed 547, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 27.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6759/
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2018-6759 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (binutils), 20 status rows across 20 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 16, released 2, ignored 1, needed 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-6759

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-6759

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
gnu	binutils	2.30	cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:2.30:::::::*

References for CVE-2018-6759

URL	Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-10/msg00072.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00008.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103030	Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-17	Third Party Advisory
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=22794	Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2018-6759

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-6759

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-6759

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-6759

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-6759

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-6759

References for CVE-2018-6759