Utility crash via uninitialized relocation pointer free
Published Mar 6, 2026 · Updated Mar 6, 2026
Double free in GNU Binutils readelf development snapshots allows attackers to crash the utility with an ELF file containing malformed GOT relocations. dump_relocations can return before initializing all_relocations, after which process_got_section_contents() passes an uninitialized r_symbol pointer to free(), triggering SIGABRT. Exploitation requires readelf to process the crafted file; third parties dispute the CVE because the faulty code reportedly existed only in pre-release code leading to 2.46, and no code execution was observed.
Summary
What happened
Double free in GNU Binutils readelf development snapshots allows attackers to crash the utility with an ELF file containing malformed GOT relocations. dump_relocations can return before initializing all_relocations, after which process_got_section_contents() passes an uninitialized r_symbol pointer to free(), triggering SIGABRT. Exploitation requires readelf to process the crafted file; third parties dispute the CVE because the faulty code reportedly existed only in pre-release code leading to 2.46, and no code execution was observed.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-69650
- Published
- Mar 6, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 6, 2026
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-415, T1204.002
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 6, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 6, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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What is affected?
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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