CVE-2025-69649
Received Received - Intake
Null Pointer Dereference in GNU Binutils readelf Causes Crash

Publication date: 2026-03-06

Last updated on: 2026-03-11

Assigner: MITRE

Description
GNU Binutils thru 2.46 readelf contains a null pointer dereference vulnerability when processing a crafted ELF binary with malformed header fields. During relocation processing, an invalid or null section pointer may be passed into display_relocations(), resulting in a segmentation fault (SIGSEGV) and abrupt termination. No evidence of memory corruption beyond the null pointer dereference, nor any possibility of code execution, was observed.
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Meta Information
Published
2026-03-06
Last Modified
2026-03-11
Generated
2026-06-16
AI Q&A
2026-03-06
EPSS Evaluated
2026-06-15
NVD
CVE-2025-69649
EUVD
EUVD-2025-208345
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
gnu binutils to 2.46 (inc)
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Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-476 The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
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Executive Summary

This vulnerability exists in GNU Binutils through version 2.46, specifically in the readelf tool. It involves a null pointer dereference when processing a specially crafted ELF binary that has malformed header fields.

During the relocation processing phase, an invalid or null section pointer may be passed into the display_relocations() function, which causes a segmentation fault (SIGSEGV) and abrupt termination of the program.

There is no evidence that this vulnerability leads to memory corruption beyond the null pointer dereference, nor does it allow for code execution.

Impact Analysis

The primary impact of this vulnerability is that the readelf tool may crash unexpectedly when processing a maliciously crafted ELF binary.

This results in a denial of service condition where the tool terminates abruptly due to a segmentation fault.

Since there is no evidence of memory corruption or code execution, the risk of further exploitation is minimal.

Compliance Impact

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Detection Guidance

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Mitigation Strategies

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