---
id: CVE-2020-21047
title: >-
  The libcpu component which is used by libasm of elfutils version 0.177 (git
  47780c9e), suffers from denial-of-service vulnerability caused by application
  crashes due to out-of-bounds write (CWE-787), off-by-one error (CWE-193) and
  reacha…
summary: >-
  The libcpu component which is used by libasm of elfutils version 0.177 (git
  47780c9e), suffers from denial-of-service vulnerability caused by application
  crashes due to out-of-bounds write (CWE-787), off-by-one error (CWE-193) and
  reacha…
severity: medium
cvss: 5.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-787
vendor: elfutils_project
product: elfutils
affected:
  - elfutils = 0.177
published: '2023-08-22'
updated: '2026-10-14'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-14T10:17:31.970'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-21047'
references:
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/09/msg00026.html'
    label: cve@mitre.org
  - url: 'https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=25068'
    label: cve@mitre.org
  - url: >-
      https://sourceware.org/git/?p=elfutils.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=99dc63b10b3878616b85df2dfd2e4e7103e414b8
    label: cve@mitre.org
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/09/msg00026.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=25068'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: >-
      https://sourceware.org/git/?p=elfutils.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=99dc63b10b3878616b85df2dfd2e4e7103e414b8
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-202008.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
epss: 0.00251
epssPercentile: 0.1534
ingestedAt: '2026-10-14T10:25:41.197Z'
exploitAvailable: true
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2024-10-07T15:40:52.075327Z'
---

## Overview

The libcpu component which is used by libasm of elfutils version 0.177 (git 47780c9e), suffers from denial-of-service vulnerability caused by application crashes due to out-of-bounds write (CWE-787), off-by-one error (CWE-193) and reachable assertion (CWE-617); to exploit the vulnerability, the attackers need to craft certain ELF files which bypass the missing bound checks.

## Affected

- `elfutils = 0.177`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.