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Ubuntu Security Notice USN-6381-1
September 18, 2023

binutils vulnerabilities
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A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:

- Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Available with Ubuntu Pro)
- Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Available with Ubuntu Pro)
- Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Available with Ubuntu Pro)

Summary:

Several security issues were fixed in GNU binutils.

Software Description:
- binutils: GNU assembler, linker and binary utilities

Details:

It was discovered that a memory leak existed in certain GNU binutils
modules. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of
service (memory exhaustion). (CVE-2020-19724, CVE-2020-21490)

It was discovered that GNU binutils was not properly performing bounds
checks in several functions, which could lead to a buffer overflow. An
attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service,
expose sensitive information or execute arbitrary code.
(CVE-2020-19726, CVE-2021-46174, CVE-2022-45703)

It was discovered that GNU binutils was not properly initializing heap
memory when processing certain print instructions. An attacker could
possibly use this issue to expose sensitive information. (CVE-2020-35342)

It was discovered that GNU binutils was not properly handling the logic
behind certain memory management related operations, which could lead to a
buffer overflow. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a
denial of service or execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2022-44840)

It was discovered that GNU binutils was not properly handling the logic
behind certain memory management related operations, which could lead to
an invalid memory access. An attacker could possibly use this issue to
cause a denial of service. (CVE-2022-47695)

Update instructions:

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Available with Ubuntu Pro):
binutils 2.30-21ubuntu1~18.04.9+esm1
binutils-multiarch 2.30-21ubuntu1~18.04.9+esm1

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Available with Ubuntu Pro):
binutils 2.26.1-1ubuntu1~16.04.8+esm7
binutils-multiarch 2.26.1-1ubuntu1~16.04.8+esm7

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Available with Ubuntu Pro):
binutils 2.24-5ubuntu14.2+esm3
binutils-multiarch 2.24-5ubuntu14.2+esm3

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

References:
https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-6381-1
CVE-2020-19724, CVE-2020-19726, CVE-2020-21490, CVE-2020-35342,
CVE-2021-46174, CVE-2022-44840, CVE-2022-45703, CVE-2022-47695