CVE-2020-35448

Exp

An issue was discovered in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.35.1. A heap-based buffer over-read can occur in bfd_getl_signed_32 in libbfd.c because sh_entsize is not validated in _bfd_elf_slurp_secondary_reloc_section in elf.c.

Published: 2020-12-26 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-35448 is rated Exploit Available (52.3/100): CVSS Low severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.28%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-35448

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-35448

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 0.33% 1.28% +0.95%
2 2026-04-06 0.13% 0.33% +0.19%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.13% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-35448

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.3 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N 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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 1.4 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N 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:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-35448

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-35448

vendor priority summary link
alpine low CVE-2020-35448: 2 source package rows (binutils-cross-embedded, mingw-w64-binutils); 14 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 14, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-35448
debian unimportant CVE-2020-35448 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (binutils), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-35448
gentoo normal CVE-2020-35448: 1 GLSA(s) (202107-24), 1 atom(s) (sys-devel/binutils); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-35448
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-35448
suse medium CVE-2020-35448 severity moderate: SUSE including 441 source package names (0.23.1-12.3:binutils-2.37-7.21.2, 0.23.1-12.3:libctf-nobfd0-2.37-7.21.2, …), 1378 product×package rows across 312 product lines (Container bci/bci-sle15-kernel-module-devel, Container bci/gcc, … (312 product lines)): Fixed 1145, Known Affected 231, Will Not Fix 2. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-35448/
ubuntu low CVE-2020-35448 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (binutils), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 5, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-35448

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-35448

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu binutils 2.35.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:2.35.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp ontap_select_deploy_administration_utility — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:ontap_select_deploy_administration_utility:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-35448

cvelogic Threat Intelligence