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GdbApplication · Gnu

CVE-2017-9778

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-06-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 8.0 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
GNU Debugger (GDB) 8.0 and earlier fails to detect a negative length field in a DWARF section. A malformed section in an ELF binary or a core file can cause GDB to repeatedly allocate memory until a process limit is reached. This can, for example, impede efforts to analyze malware with GDB.

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

GDB 8.0 and earlier lacks proper validation of length fields in DWARF debugging sections. When parsing a malformed DWARF section containing a negative length value in an ELF binary or core file, GDB enters a loop that repeatedly allocates memory based on this negative value, eventually exhausting process limits and causing denial of service.

MitigationUpdate GDB to a version that includes the fix for CVE-2017-9778. Avoid loading untrusted ELF binaries or core files into GDB until the update is applied, as malformed DWARF sections can trigger the memory exhaustion condition.

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
GdbApplication
Affected:<= 8.0

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 GDB version
    Run 'gdb --version' or 'gdb -v' to obtain the installed GDB version number
    Affected if The version number is 8.0 or earlier
  2. Verify if loading ELF binaries or core files
    Identify whether GDB is being used to load external ELF binaries or core dump files (any file not generated by the user's own trusted build process)
    Affected if Untrusted or externally-sourced ELF files or core dumps are loaded into GDB
  3. Confirm DWARF debugging sections are present
    Inspect the ELF binary or core file with 'readelf --debug-dump=info <file>' or 'objdump -g <file>' to check for DWARF debugging sections
    Affected if The ELF file contains DWARF debugging sections that GDB will parse

A user is affected if they are running GDB version 8.0 or earlier and load an untrusted ELF binary or core file containing malformed DWARF debugging sections with negative length values.

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 8.0
Interim mitigation

Update GDB to a version that includes the fix for CVE-2017-9778. Avoid loading untrusted ELF binaries or core files into GDB until the update is applied, as malformed DWARF sections can trigger the memory exhaustion condition.

Fix this in Gdb Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2017-9778 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