CVE-2022-38533

In GNU Binutils before 2.40, there is a heap-buffer-overflow in the error function bfd_getl32 when called from the strip_main function in strip-new via a crafted file.

Published: 2022-08-25 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-38533 is rated Low Risk (30.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.31%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2022-38533

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 0.03% 0.31% +0.29%
2 2025-11-21 0.08% 0.03% -0.06%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.08% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-38533

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-38533

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-38533

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2022-38533: 1 source package rows (binutils); 30 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 8, open 22. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-38533
debian unimportant CVE-2022-38533 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-2022-38533
gentoo normal CVE-2022-38533: 1 GLSA(s) (202309-15), 1 atom(s) (sys-devel/binutils); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-38533
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-38533
suse medium CVE-2022-38533 severity moderate: SUSE including 394 source package names (0.23.1-12.3:binutils-2.39-150100.7.40.1, 0.23.1-12.3:libctf-nobfd0-2.39-150100.7.40.1, …), 1326 product×package rows across 296 product lines (Container bci/bci-sle15-kernel-module-devel, Container bci/gcc, … (296 product lines)): Fixed 1078, Known Affected 231, Will Not Fix 17. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-38533/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-38533 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (binutils), 9 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 8, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-38533

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-38533

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu binutils <= 2.39 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 36 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 37 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-38533

URL Tags
https://github.com/bminor/binutils-gdb/commit/45d92439aebd0386ef8af76e1796d08cfe457e1d
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6AKZ2DTS3ATVN5PANNVLKLE5OP4OF25Q/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/7MTEHT3G6YKJ7F7MSGWYSI4UM3XBAYXZ/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202309-15
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221104-0007/ Third Party Advisory
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=29482 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=29482#c2 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=29495
https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git%3Bh=45d92439aebd0386ef8af76e1796d08cfe457e1d
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