Null Pointer Dereference in newlib libc Library

CVE-2019-14875

Summary

The null pointer dereference vulnerability in the multiply function of the newlib libc library occurs due to inadequate error handling during memory allocation. Specifically, when the Balloc function is invoked to allocate a big integer, there is no verification whether the allocation was successful or not. This oversight can lead to a situation where accessing the first element causes a null pointer dereference, potentially crashing the application or causing unpredictable behavior. This vulnerability affects all versions of newlib prior to version 3.3.0.

References