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6.2

GNU Binutils readelf crashes with malformed ELF file

CVE-2025-69652
Summary

A malicious ELF file can cause the readelf tool to crash. This vulnerability affects the readelf tool in GNU Binutils versions up to 2.46. To mitigate this issue, update to a newer version of GNU Binutils.

What to do

No fix is available yet. Check with your software vendor for updates.

Affected software
VendorProductAffected versionsFix available
gnu binutils <= 2.46 –
Original title
GNU Binutils thru 2.46 readelf contains a vulnerability that leads to an abort (SIGABRT) when processing a crafted ELF binary with malformed DWARF abbrev or debug information. Due to incomplete sta...
Original description
GNU Binutils thru 2.46 readelf contains a vulnerability that leads to an abort (SIGABRT) when processing a crafted ELF binary with malformed DWARF abbrev or debug information. Due to incomplete state cleanup in process_debug_info(), an invalid debug_info_p state may propagate into DWARF attribute parsing routines. When certain malformed attributes result in an unexpected data length of zero, byte_get_little_endian() triggers a fatal abort. No evidence of memory corruption or code execution was observed; the impact is limited to denial of service.
Vulnerability type
CWE-460
Published: 6 Mar 2026 · Updated: 11 Mar 2026 · First seen: 6 Mar 2026