CVE-2022-48065
Publication date 22 August 2023
Last updated 25 August 2025
Ubuntu priority
Description
GNU Binutils before 2.40 was discovered to contain a memory leak vulnerability var the function find_abstract_instance in dwarf2.c.
Status
| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status |
|---|---|---|
| binutils | ||
| 22.04 LTS jammy |
Fixed 2.38-4ubuntu2.6
|
|
| 20.04 LTS focal |
Fixed 2.34-6ubuntu1.9
|
|
| 18.04 LTS bionic |
Not affected
|
|
| 16.04 LTS xenial |
Not affected
|
|
| 14.04 LTS trusty |
Not affected
|
Notes
seth-arnold
binutils isn't safe for untrusted inputs.
ccdm94
binutils in bionic and earlier does not include commit 422f3d3d. In this commit, function 'find_abstract_instance' was included, and with it, the 'DW_AT_decl_file' case, which is where the memory leak occurs. The patch provided by upstream also fixes function 'scan_unit_for_symbols', which could also cause a memory leak for similar reasons as the other function. Fixing 'find_abstract_instance' in bionic and earlier is not possible as the code being fixed is not present. Fixing 'scan_unit_for_symbols' would only introduce possibly undefined behavior, as the patch frees a variable that in bionic and earlier, is not initialized by 'find_abstract_instance' and is not initialized by the alternative there present, 'find_abstract_instance_name', that doesn't even consider a filename for an argument.
Patch details
| Package | Patch details |
|---|---|
| binutils |
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score |
5.5 · Medium
|
| Attack vector | Local |
| Attack complexity | Low |
| Privileges required | None |
| User interaction | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None |
| Integrity impact | None |
| Availability impact | High |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
References
Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)
- USN-6655-1
- GNU binutils vulnerabilities
- 26 February 2024