CVE-2025-69649
Published: 06 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-69649 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Gnu Binutils. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 16.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-11 (Error Handling).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-69649 is a null pointer dereference vulnerability (CWE-476) in the readelf tool of GNU Binutils versions through 2.46. The flaw arises when processing a crafted ELF binary with malformed header fields, where an invalid or null section pointer is passed to the display_relocations() function during relocation processing. This triggers a segmentation fault (SIGSEGV), causing abrupt termination of the readelf process. Published on 2026-03-06, the vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), with no observed memory corruption beyond the dereference or potential for code execution.
Any remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability without privileges or user interaction by providing a specially crafted ELF binary to the readelf tool. Successful exploitation results in a denial-of-service condition, crashing the readelf process and disrupting analysis workflows for users or automated systems relying on it, such as build pipelines or debugging tools.
The issue is tracked in the Sourceware Bugzilla report at https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33697, with a fix available in the upstream commit at https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=66a3492ce68e1ae45b2489bd9a815c39ea5d7f66. Security practitioners should update GNU Binutils to a version incorporating this patch and validate ELF inputs when using readelf in untrusted environments.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-208345
Vulnerability details
GNU Binutils thru 2.46 readelf contains a null pointer dereference vulnerability when processing a crafted ELF binary with malformed header fields. During relocation processing, an invalid or null section pointer may be passed into display_relocations(), resulting in a segmentation fault…
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(SIGSEGV) and abrupt termination. No evidence of memory corruption beyond the null pointer dereference, nor any possibility of code execution, was observed.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Null pointer dereference in readelf enables direct application DoS via crafted ELF input (exploitation for endpoint denial of service).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly mitigates the null pointer dereference by requiring timely patching of the flaw in GNU Binutils readelf tool as per the upstream fix.
Ensures the readelf tool handles invalid or null section pointers during ELF relocation processing without causing a segmentation fault or denial-of-service.
Requires validation of ELF binary inputs with malformed header fields before processing by readelf to prevent passing invalid section pointers.