Medium
Security advisory
An Invalid Memory Address Dereference exists in the function elf_end in libelf in elfutils through v0.174. Although eu-size is intended to support ar files inside ar files, handle_ar in size.c closes the outer ar file before handling all inner entries. The vulnerability allows attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) with a crafted ELF file.
- Products
- Not specified
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2018-18520
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 1 Nov 2026, 06:46 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
An Invalid Memory Address Dereference exists in the function elf_end in libelf in elfutils through v0.174. Although eu-size is intended to support ar files inside ar files, handle_ar in size.c closes the outer ar file before handling all inner entries. The vulnerability allows attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) with a crafted ELF file.
osv:CVE-2018-18520
Complete source record
{
"id": "b463e4d8e6b34455f039f86c3191e28d99fe66d075646e4e0bdfd093b3bd11d2",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-18520",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "CVE-2018-18520",
"summary": "An Invalid Memory Address Dereference exists in the function elf_end in libelf in elfutils through v0.174. Although eu-size is intended to support ar files inside ar files, handle_ar in size.c closes the outer ar file before handling all inner entries. The vulnerability allows attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) with a crafted ELF file.",
"evidence": "osv:CVE-2018-18520",
"products": [],
"severity": "medium",
"structured": {
"id": "CVE-2018-18520",
"aliases": [
"CVE-2018-18520"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"repo": "https://sourceware.org/git/elfutils.git",
"type": "GIT",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "52b6b2f1f49e7385527e9f311f248092be0c0b61"
}
],
"database_specific": {
"extracted_events": [
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:elfutils_project:elfutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "0.174"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
}
]
}
}
],
"versions": [
"elfutils-0.174",
"elfutils-0.173",
"elfutils-0.172",
"elfutils-0.171",
"elfutils-0.170",
"elfutils-0.169",
"elfutils-0.168",
"elfutils-0.167",
"elfutils-0.166",
"elfutils-0.165",
"elfutils-0.164",
"elfutils-0.163",
"elfutils-0.162",
"elfutils-0.161",
"elfutils-0.160",
"elfutils-0.159",
"elfutils-0.158",
"elfutils-0.157",
"elfutils-0.156",
"elfutils-0.155",
"elfutils-0.154",
"elfutils-0.153",
"elfutils-0.152",
"elfutils-0.151",
"elfutils-0.150",
"elfutils-0.149",
"elfutils-0.148",
"elfutils-0.147",
"elfutils-0.146",
"elfutils-0.145",
"elfutils-0.144",
"elfutils-0.143",
"elfutils-0.142",
"elfutils-0.138",
"elfutils-0.137",
"elfutils-0.136",
"elfutils-0.135",
"elfutils-0.134",
"elfutils-0.133",
"elfutils-0.132",
"elfutils-0.131",
"elfutils-0.130",
"elfutils-0.129",
"elfutils-0.128",
"elfutils-0.127",
"elfutils-0.126",
"elfutils-0.125",
"elfutils-0.124",
"elfutils-0.123",
"elfutils-0.122",
"elfutils-0.121",
"elfutils-0.120"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2018-18520.json"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-24T10:30:44.288429459Z",
"provider": "osv",
"references": [
"https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2197",
"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/02/msg00036.html",
"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/10/msg00030.html",
"https://usn.ubuntu.com/4012-1/",
"https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=23787",
"https://sourceware.org/ml/elfutils-devel/2018-q4/msg00057.html"
],
"provider_metadata": {
"unresolved_ranges": [
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "canonical:ubuntu_linux",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "16.04"
},
{
"last_affected": "16.04"
},
{
"introduced": "18.04"
},
{
"last_affected": "18.04"
},
{
"introduced": "18.10"
},
{
"last_affected": "18.10"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "debian:debian_linux",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "8.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.0"
},
{
"introduced": "9.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "9.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "opensuse:leap",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "15.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "15.0"
},
{
"introduced": "15.1"
},
{
"last_affected": "15.1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "7.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "7.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux_server",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "7.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "7.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "7.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "7.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
}
]
}
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2018-18520",
"evidence": "/id"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 435839,
"published_at": "2018-10-19T17:29:00.767+00:00"
}