CVE-2018-7642

The swap_std_reloc_in function in aoutx.h in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.30, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (aout_32_swap_std_reloc_out NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via a crafted ELF file, as demonstrated by objcopy.

Published: 2018-03-02 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-7642 is rated Moderate Risk (50.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.95%). EPSS rose +1.73% 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-2018-7642

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 0.22% 1.95% +1.73%
2 2026-05-01 0.15% 0.22% +0.07%
3 2026-04-13 — 0.15% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-7642

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-2018-7642

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-7642

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-7642 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-2018-7642
gentoo normal CVE-2018-7642: 1 GLSA(s) (201811-17), 1 atom(s) (sys-devel/binutils); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-7642
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-7642
suse medium CVE-2018-7642 severity moderate: SUSE including 388 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 325 product lines (Container bci/bci-sle15-kernel-module-devel, Container bci/gcc, … (325 product lines)): Fixed 549, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 25. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-7642/
ubuntu low CVE-2018-7642 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-2018-7642

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-7642

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu binutils 2.30 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:2.30:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-7642

cvelogic Threat Intelligence