CVE-2020-16593
binutils: Null Pointer Dereference in scan_unit_for_symbols could result in DoS
Severity
LowRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · December 10, 2020
Updated · November 22, 2025
Description
A Null Pointer Dereference vulnerability exists in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.35, in scan_unit_for_symbols, as demonstrated in addr2line, that can cause a denial of service via a crafted file.
Statement
binutils as shipped in Red Hat Developer Toolsets 9 and 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 BaseOS and GCC Toolsets 9 and 10, are all not affected by this flaw as it was introduced in a newer version of binutils code than shipped for BaseOS and the 9 toolsets, and already patched in the versions shipped with 10 toolsets.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 5.5CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference