Security advisory

{
  "id": "a7bc0adfafc3ef50e127af7f8f5c3a6ab5f053cc79ce585b189623ab360f8961",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-20197",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "CVE-2021-20197",
    "summary": "There is an open race window when writing output in the following utilities in GNU binutils version 2.35 and earlier:ar, objcopy, strip, ranlib. When these utilities are run as a privileged user (presumably as part of a script updating binaries across different users), an unprivileged user can trick these utilities into getting ownership of arbitrary files through a symlink.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2021-20197",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2021-20197",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2021-20197"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://sourceware.org/git/binutils-gdb.git",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "last_affected": "2cb5c79dad39dd438fb0f7372ac04cf5aa2a7db7"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "last_affected": "2.35"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "binutils-2_35",
            "gdb-9-branchpoint",
            "gdb-8.3-branchpoint",
            "users/ARM/embedded-gdb-master-2018q4",
            "users/ARM/embedded-binutils-master-2018q4",
            "gdb-8.2-branchpoint",
            "gdb-8.1-branchpoint",
            "users/ARM/embedded-gdb-master-2017q4",
            "users/ARM/embedded-binutils-master-2017q4",
            "gdb-8.0-branchpoint",
            "users/ARM/embedded-binutils-master-2016q4",
            "gdb-7.12-branchpoint",
            "gdb-7.11-branchpoint",
            "gdb-7.10-branchpoint",
            "gdb-7.9-branchpoint",
            "gdb-7.8-branchpoint",
            "gdb-7.7-branchpoint",
            "gdb_7_6-branchpoint",
            "gdb_7_5-branchpoint",
            "gdb_7_4-branchpoint",
            "gdb_7_3-branchpoint",
            "gdb_7_2-branchpoint",
            "gdb_7_1-branchpoint",
            "gdb_7_0-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_8-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_7-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_6-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_5-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_4-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_3-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_2-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_1-branchpoint",
            "gdb_6_0-branchpoint",
            "gdb_5_3-branchpoint",
            "gdb_5_2-branchpoint",
            "gdb-4_18-branchpoint"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2021-20197.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-24T10:31:06.260114893Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202208-30",
        "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210528-0009/",
        "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1913743",
        "https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=26945"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "unresolved_ranges": [
          {
            "cpes": [
              "cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
            ],
            "vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux",
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "range": [
                  {
                    "introduced": "8.0"
                  },
                  {
                    "last_affected": "8.0"
                  }
                ],
                "source": "CPE_STRING"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2021-20197",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 440948,
  "published_at": "2021-03-26T17:15:12.92+00:00"
}