Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2012-3509

Multiple integer overflows in the (1) _objalloc_alloc function in objalloc.c and (2) objalloc_alloc macro in include/objalloc.h in GNU libiberty, as used by binutils 2.22, allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via vectors related to the "addition of CHUNK_HEADER_SIZE to the length," which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow.

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2012-3509 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 4 products from gnu, from gnu, from canonical and 1 other, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2012, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2012-09-05T23:55:01.727

Last Modified

2025-04-11T00:51:21.963

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 5.0 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: NONE
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

10.0

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-189

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	gnu	binutils	< 2.24	Yes
Application	gnu	libiberty	-	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	10.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.10	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	7.0	Yes

References

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=54411 Issue Tracking ([email protected])
http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2012-08/msg01986.html Patch, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
http://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-3509 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2015:029 Broken Link ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/08/29/3 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/55281 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2496-1 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/78135 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=54411 Issue Tracking (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2012-08/msg01986.html Patch, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-3509 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2015:029 Broken Link (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/08/29/3 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/55281 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2496-1 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/78135 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For gnu's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.