GNU Binutils up to 2.46 readelf process_debug_info denial of service

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in GNU Binutils up to 2.46. It has been declared as problematic. This affects the function process_debug_info of the component readelf. Executing a manipulation can lead to denial of service. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-69652. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic was found in GNU Binutils up to 2.46. This vulnerability affects the function process_debug_info of the component readelf. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. As an impact it is known to affect availability. CVE summarizes:

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.

The advisory is shared for download at sourceware.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-69652 since 01/09/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 301409 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-69652), 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 (301409). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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

• 🔒
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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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