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ElfutilsApplication · Elfutils Project

CVE-2016-10254

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-03-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 0.167 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The allocate_elf function in common.h in elfutils before 0.168 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted ELF file, which triggers a memory allocation failure.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The allocate_elf function in common.h in elfutils before 0.168 fails to properly handle memory allocation when processing crafted ELF files, leading to a crash and denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade elfutils to version 0.168 or later to patch the vulnerability; validate ELF files before processing if upgrading is not immediately feasible.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
ElfutilsApplication
Affected:<= 0.167

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if elfutils is installed
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep elfutils' (RHEL/CentOS) or 'dpkg -l | grep elfutils' (Debian/Ubuntu) or look for binaries like eu-readelf, eu-objdump, eu-nm in PATH
    Affected if elfutils package or utilities are present on the system
  2. Determine installed elfutils version
    Run 'rpm -q elfutils' (RHEL/CentOS) or 'dpkg -s elfutils' (Debian/Ubuntu) to get the exact version number
    Affected if The version displayed is 0.167 or lower
  3. Check elfutils utility versions
    Run 'eu-readelf --version' or 'eu-objdump --version' to check version of individual tools
    Affected if Version shown is 0.167 or lower
  4. Verify allocate_elf function usage
    Review any custom code or scripts that call elfutils libraries (libdw, libelf) and process ELF files using functions that trigger allocate_elf in common.h
    Affected if ELF file processing code exists and elfutils version is <= 0.167

The system is affected if elfutils version 0.167 or lower is installed and the system processes ELF files using elfutils tools or library functions.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 0.167
Interim mitigation

Upgrade elfutils to version 0.168 or later to patch the vulnerability; validate ELF files before processing if upgrading is not immediately feasible.

Fix this in Elfutils Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-10254 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data