Service interruption via malformed ELF section metadata
Published Apr 22, 2026 · Updated Apr 22, 2026
Denial of service in Red Hat binutils readelf allows local users to crash the utility or exhaust memory by supplying a crafted ELF file. Malformed relocation metadata in a 1 KB file declares 357 million entries and drives a 6.3 TB allocation, while invalid sh_entsize and shoff values trigger a null pointer dereference. A local user must convince another user to inspect the file; the resulting out-of-memory kill or SIGSEGV interrupts readelf and can make the host unresponsive.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Red Hat binutils readelf allows local users to crash the utility or exhaust memory by supplying a crafted ELF file. Malformed relocation metadata in a 1 KB file declares 357 million entries and drives a 6.3 TB allocation, while invalid sh_entsize and shoff values trigger a null pointer dereference. A local user must convince another user to inspect the file; the resulting out-of-memory kill or SIGSEGV interrupts readelf and can make the host unresponsive.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-6845
- Published
- Apr 22, 2026
- Updated
- Apr 22, 2026
- Vendor
- 389 Directory Server
- Product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Classifications
- CWE-476, T1204.002
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 22, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 22, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Affected versions are unavailable in this record. Check the vendor advisory for version and patch details.
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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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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