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Vulnerability record · CVE-2025-69651 · published 6 March 2026

CVE-2025-69651: Gnu binutils null pointer dereference vulnerability

Gnu · Binutils

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.

5.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium EPSS 0.24% · top 86.4% CWE-476 · NULL pointer dereference
5.5CVSS 3.1 base score
0.24%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
5References, 1 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

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.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33698
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33700 ExploitMailing ListThird Party Advisory
https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=commitdiff;h=81e90cf63a10ad11772c2437c8f2a88f1a00c739
https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=commitdiff;h=ea4bc025abdba85a90e26e13f551c16a44bfa92
https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=ea4bc025abdba85a90e26e13f551c16a44bfa921 Patch

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2025-69651), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-28). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.