5.5
MEDIUM CVSS 3.1
CVE-2025-69651
Apache GNU Binutils Denial of Service (DoS) Vulnerability
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.

INFO

Published Date :

March 6, 2026, 6:16 p.m.

Last Modified :

March 19, 2026, 1:16 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2025-69651 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Gnu binutils
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 MEDIUM 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
CVSS 3.1 MEDIUM [email protected]
Solution
Update Binutils to a version that addresses the invalid pointer free vulnerability.
  • Update GNU Binutils to a fixed version.
  • Ensure ELF binaries are validated before processing.
  • Monitor for program termination due to SIGABRT.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-69651 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-69651 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2025-69651 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2025-69651 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Mar. 19, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Tag disputed
    Changed 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. 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.
    Added Reference https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33698
    Added Reference https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=commitdiff;h=81e90cf63a10ad11772c2437c8f2a88f1a00c739
    Added Reference https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=commitdiff;h=ea4bc025abdba85a90e26e13f551c16a44bfa92
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Mar. 10, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
    Added CWE NVD-CWE-noinfo
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (including) 2.46
    Added Reference Type MITRE: https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33700 Types: Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
    Added Reference Type MITRE: https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=ea4bc025abdba85a90e26e13f551c16a44bfa921 Types: Patch
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Mar. 10, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
    Added CWE CWE-476
  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Mar. 06, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added 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.
    Added Reference https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33700
    Added Reference https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=ea4bc025abdba85a90e26e13f551c16a44bfa921
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.