REDHAT-BUG-2167502: Low severity binutils vulnerability

Published Feb 6, 2023

Updated

In Binutils, at function bfdinitsectiondecompressstatus, a local variable is supposed to be initialized by function bfdcheckcompressionheader. However, since this function call is inside an else if branch, if the previous if branch is taken, the chtype can be uninitialized and thus directly used to assign sec->compressstatus. Therefore, when the compressstatus field is used in a branch condition, the memory sanitizer aborts.

Upstream bug:

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/showbug.cgi?id=29855

Upstream fix:

https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=5830876a0cca17bef3b2d54908928e72cca53502

Affected Software

1 affected component

GNU binutils

Event History

Feb 6, 2023

Data Sourced

via Red Hat·08:04 PM

DescriptionSeverityAffected Software

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the severity of REDHAT-BUG-2167502?

The severity of REDHAT-BUG-2167502 is not explicitly stated, but it involves potential uninitialized variable usage which can lead to undefined behavior.

How do I fix REDHAT-BUG-2167502?

To fix REDHAT-BUG-2167502, ensure that the variable `ch_type` is properly initialized before any potential usage.

Which software is affected by REDHAT-BUG-2167502?

The software affected by REDHAT-BUG-2167502 is GNU Binutils.

What function is involved in REDHAT-BUG-2167502?

The function involved in REDHAT-BUG-2167502 is `bfd_check_compression_header`, which is called under specific conditions.

What is the main issue described in REDHAT-BUG-2167502?

The main issue in REDHAT-BUG-2167502 is that a local variable may remain uninitialized depending on the branching logic in the code.