NULL pointer dereference in GNU Binutils
CVE-2025-69651
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.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.002 (13.6th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 14th percentile — 13.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi
- sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi (Patch)
- sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi (Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
- sourceware.org/git/
- sourceware.org/git/
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-69651?
- CVE-2025-69651 is a medium-severity vulnerability in GNU Binutils, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-03-06.
- How severe is CVE-2025-69651?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.