CVE-2020-35493
MediumCVSS 5.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Elevated risk65th percentile - higher than 65% of all known CVEs
Summary
A heap buffer overflow exists in binutils in bfd/pef.c when a crafted PEF file is parsed by objdump, leading to an out-of-bounds read. The flaw affects binutils versions prior to 2.34.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can supply a malicious PEF file to crash objdump, impacting application availability. This is especially risky in environments that automatically process untrusted binaries.
Recommendation
Upgrade binutils to version 2.34 or later. Avoid running objdump on files from untrusted sources.
Other vulnerabilities in binutils
See all- CVE-2026-6846High
A heap-buffer-overflow vulnerability was found in binutils when processing a specially crafted XCOFF object file during linking. A local attacker could trick a user into processing this malicious file, leading to arbitrary code execution or denial of service.
- CVE-2026-6845Medium
A flaw was found in binutils, specifically within the `readelf` utility, allowing a local attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by tricking a user into processing a specially crafted ELF file. Exploitation can lead to excessive resource consumption or a program crash, making the system unresponsive.
- CVE-2026-6844Medium
A flaw was found in the readelf utility of the binutils package. A local attacker could exploit two Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerabilities by providing a specially crafted ELF file. One vulnerability, a resource exhaustion (CWE-400), can lead to an out-of-memory condition. The other, a null pointer dereference (CWE-476), can cause a segmentation fault. Both issues can result in the readelf utility becoming unresponsive or crashing.
- CVE-2020-35507Medium
A flaw exists in bfd_pef_parse_function_stubs of bfd/pef.c in binutils versions prior to 2.34. An attacker able to submit a crafted file processed by objdump can cause a NULL pointer dereference.
- CVE-2020-35496Medium
A flaw exists in bfd_pef_scan_start_address() of bfd/pef.c in binutils. An attacker able to submit a crafted file processed by objdump can cause a NULL pointer dereference.
- CVE-2020-35495Medium
A flaw exists in binutils /bfd/pef.c. An attacker able to submit a crafted input file processed by objdump can cause a NULL pointer dereference.
- CVE-2020-35494Medium
A flaw in binutils /opcodes/tic4x-dis.c causes the use of uninitialized memory when processing a crafted input file. The highest threat is to application availability, with a lower threat to data confidentiality. The flaw affects binutils versions prior to 2.34.
Original NVD description (English source)
A flaw exists in binutils in bfd/pef.c. An attacker who is able to submit a crafted PEF file to be parsed by objdump could cause a heap buffer overflow -> out-of-bounds read that could lead to an impact to application availability. This flaw affects binutils versions prior to 2.34.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

