CVE-2025-1179
Published: 11 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-1179 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Gnu Binutils. Its CVSS base score is 5.0 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 28.0th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 RA-5 (Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly mandates timely identification, reporting, and correction of the memory corruption flaw in GNU Binutils 2.43 by upgrading to version 2.44.
Requires regular vulnerability scanning to identify systems running the vulnerable GNU Binutils 2.43 affected by CVE-2025-1179.
Implements memory protection safeguards such as ASLR or DEP to mitigate exploitation of the memory corruption in bfd_putl64.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Memory corruption in Binutils ld enables code execution via malicious object file processing (T1203) or privilege escalation (T1068).
NVD Description
A vulnerability was found in GNU Binutils 2.43. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function bfd_putl64 of the file bfd/libbfd.c of the component ld. The manipulation leads to memory corruption. The attack may be…
more
launched remotely. The complexity of an attack is rather high. The exploitation is known to be difficult. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. Upgrading to version 2.44 is able to address this issue. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The code maintainer explains, that "[t]his bug has been fixed at some point between the 2.43 and 2.44 releases".
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-1179 is a critical vulnerability in GNU Binutils version 2.43 that affects the bfd_putl64 function in the file bfd/libbfd.c within the ld component. The issue results in memory corruption, mapped to CWE-119, and has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.0 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).
The vulnerability enables remote attacks over the network by unauthenticated attackers requiring no privileges, though exploitation demands high complexity and user interaction. Successful exploitation achieves low-level impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. While exploitation is considered difficult, an exploit has been publicly disclosed and may be used.
Advisories recommend upgrading to GNU Binutils version 2.44 to mitigate the issue, as the bug was fixed at some point between the 2.43 and 2.44 releases, according to the code maintainer. Details are available in Sourceware Bugzilla entries, including bug report 32640 and attachment 15915, along with VulDB references.
Details
- CWE(s)