CVE-2019-1010204
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 · uneditedGNU binutils gold gold v1.11-v1.16 (GNU binutils v2.21-v2.31.1) is affected by: Improper Input Validation, Signed/Unsigned Comparison, Out-of-bounds Read. The impact is: Denial of service. The component is: gold/fileread.cc:497, elfcpp/elfcpp_file.h:644. The attack vector is: An ELF file with an invalid e_shoff header field must be opened.
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 confidenceThe GNU binutils gold linker contains a vulnerability in its ELF file parsing code where it fails to properly validate the e_shoff (section header table offset) field before using it. This leads to an out-of-bounds read when processing a specially crafted ELF file with an invalid e_shoff value, causing denial of service.
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>= 2.21, <= 2.31.1>= 1.11, <= 1.16all versionsall versionsCVSS 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:3.1/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if gold linker is installedRun 'which ld.gold' or check if /usr/bin/ld.gold or /usr/local/bin/ld.gold exists on the systemAffected if The ld.gold binary exists on the system - this indicates the vulnerable gold linker component is present
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Check binutils versionRun 'ld --version' or 'binutils --version' to determine the installed version numberAffected if The reported version falls within 2.21 through 2.31.1 (inclusive), indicating the unpatched vulnerable version is installed
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Confirm gold linker version if specific version neededRun 'ld.gold --version' to get the specific gold linker versionAffected if The gold linker version is between 1.11 and 1.16 inclusive, matching the vulnerable range
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Determine default linker in useCheck if gold is set as the default linker by running 'ld --verbose | grep linker' or checking system configuration files under /etc/alternatives/ or /usr/sbin/alternativesAffected if Gold is configured as the system default linker, meaning ELF files processed by the system linker will trigger the vulnerable code path
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Verify ELF processing contextInspect build environments, CI/CD pipelines, or any automated systems that invoke the linker (ld.gold) to process ELF binariesAffected if The system or its build processes actively use the gold linker to process ELF files, creating a path where malformed ELF files could be parsed
The system is affected if it runs GNU binutils versions 2.21 through 2.31.1 with the gold linker (ld.gold) installed and actively used to process ELF files.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade to binutils version 2.31.2 or later, which contains the fix for proper validation of ELF header fields before processing.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-1010204 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-1010204 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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