GNU Binutils up to 2.46 readelf process_got_section_contents denial of service

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in GNU Binutils up to 2.46 and classified as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is the function process_got_section_contents of the component readelf. Such manipulation leads to denial of service. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-69651. An attack has to be approached locally. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in GNU Binutils up to 2.46. It has been rated as problematic. Affected by this issue is the function process_got_section_contents of the component readelf. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

GNU Binutils thru 2.46 readelf contains a vulnerability that leads to an invalid pointer free when processing a crafted ELF binary with malformed relocation or symbol data. If dump_relocations returns early due to parsing errors, the internal all_relocations array may remain partially uninitialized. Later, process_got_section_contents() may attempt to free an invalid r_symbol pointer, triggering memory corruption checks in glibc and causing the program to terminate with SIGABRT. No evidence of further memory corruption or code execution was observed; the impact is limited to denial of service. NOTE: this is disputed by third parties because the observed behavior occurred only in pre-release code and did not affect any tagged version.

The advisory is available at sourceware.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-69651 since 01/09/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. Local access is required to approach this attack. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 301408 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-69651), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (301408). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Programming Tool Software

Vendor

• GNU

Name

• Binutils

Version

• 2.0
• 2.1
• 2.2
• 2.3
• 2.4
• 2.5
• 2.6
• 2.7
• 2.8
• 2.9
• 2.10
• 2.11
• 2.12
• 2.13
• 2.14
• 2.15
• 2.16
• 2.17
• 2.18
• 2.19
• 2.20
• 2.21
• 2.22
• 2.23
• 2.24
• 2.25
• 2.26
• 2.27
• 2.28
• 2.29
• 2.30
• 2.31
• 2.32
• 2.33
• 2.34
• 2.35
• 2.36
• 2.37
• 2.38
• 2.39
• 2.40
• 2.41
• 2.42
• 2.43
• 2.44
• 2.45
• 2.46

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.gnu.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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