CVE-2023-1972

A potential heap based buffer overflow was found in _bfd_elf_slurp_version_tables() in bfd/elf.c. This may lead to loss of availability.

Published: 2023-05-17 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-1972 is rated Moderate Risk (46/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.90%). 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-2023-1972

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 0.05% 0.90% +0.84%
2 2026-03-13 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-1972

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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.
 2.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-1972

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-1972

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-1972: 1 source package rows (binutils); 46 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 38. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-1972
debian unimportant CVE-2023-1972 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (binutils), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-1972
gentoo normal CVE-2023-1972: 1 GLSA(s) (202309-15), 1 atom(s) (sys-devel/binutils); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-1972
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-1972
suse medium CVE-2023-1972 severity moderate: SUSE including 338 source package names (0.23.1-12.3:binutils-2.41-150100.7.46.1, 0.23.1-12.3:libctf-nobfd0-2.41-150100.7.46.1, …), 1109 product×package rows across 254 product lines (Container bci/bci-sle15-kernel-module-devel, Container bci/gcc, … (254 product lines)): Fixed 878, Known Affected 231. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-1972/
ubuntu low CVE-2023-1972 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (binutils, gdb), 20 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 9, not-affected 7, ignored 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-1972

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-1972

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu binutils >= 2.35, <= 2.40 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-1972

cvelogic Threat Intelligence