CVE-2016-8681: Medium severity Libdwarf Project Libdwarf vulnerability

Q: What must an attacker do to trigger the issue?

The attacker must cause the dwarfdump command to process a crafted file. Exploitation requires user interaction, such as an operator running dwarfdump on attacker-controlled input.

Q: What is the practical impact?

Successful exploitation causes an out-of-bounds heap read that can result in a denial of service. The available data does not indicate confidentiality or integrity impact.

Q: Which versions are affected?

Upstream libdwarf 20161001 and earlier are identified as affected. The listed affected packaged products are Microsoft azl3 libdwarf 0.9.0-1 and Microsoft cbl2 libdwarf 0.9.0.

Q: What can be done if patching is not immediately possible?

Do not run dwarfdump on untrusted or externally supplied files until the upstream fixes are applied. Limit processing to files from trusted sources.

Published Oct 17, 2016

Updated

An out of bounds heap read vulnerability was found in dwarfgetabbrevforcode triggered by invoking dwarfdump command on crafted file.

Upstream patches:

https://sourceforge.net/p/libdwarf/code/ci/2d14a7792889e33bc542c28d0f3792964c46214f/#diff-13 https://sourceforge.net/p/libdwarf/code/ci/efe48cad0693d6994d9a7b561e1c3833b073a624/#diff-2

CVE assignment:

http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2016/q4/146

Other sources

The dwarfgetabbrevforcode function in dwarfutil.c in libdwarf 20161001 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) by calling the dwarfdump command on a crafted file.

— MITRE

Affected Software

3 affected componentsFixes available

Libdwarf Project Libdwarf<=2016-10-01

Microsoft azl3 libdwarf 0.9.0-1

Patch available

Microsoft cbl2 libdwarf 0.9.0

Patch available

Event History

Oct 17, 2016

Data Sourced

via Red Hat·01:56 PM

DescriptionSeverityAffected Software

Feb 15, 2017

CVE Published

via MITRE·09:00 PM

Data Sourced

via MITRE·09:00 PM

Description

Data Sourced

via NVD·09:59 PM

RemedyDescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software

Sep 4, 2025

Data Sourced

via Microsoft·03:19 AM

DescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software

Frequently Asked Questions

What must an attacker do to trigger the issue?

The attacker must cause the dwarfdump command to process a crafted file. Exploitation requires user interaction, such as an operator running dwarfdump on attacker-controlled input.

What is the practical impact?

Successful exploitation causes an out-of-bounds heap read that can result in a denial of service. The available data does not indicate confidentiality or integrity impact.

Which versions are affected?

Upstream libdwarf 20161001 and earlier are identified as affected. The listed affected packaged products are Microsoft azl3 libdwarf 0.9.0-1 and Microsoft cbl2 libdwarf 0.9.0.

What can be done if patching is not immediately possible?

Do not run dwarfdump on untrusted or externally supplied files until the upstream fixes are applied. Limit processing to files from trusted sources.

CVE-2016-8681: Medium severity Libdwarf Project Libdwarf vulnerability

Other sources

Affected Software

Event History

Frequently Asked Questions

What must an attacker do to trigger the issue?

What is the practical impact?

Which versions are affected?

What can be done if patching is not immediately possible?

Company

Resources

Contact

Frequently Asked Questions

What must an attacker do to trigger the issue?

What is the practical impact?

Which versions are affected?

What can be done if patching is not immediately possible?