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.
Affected Software
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binutils | Gnu | * | 2.46 (including) |
| Red Hat Hardened Images | RedHat | binutils-main-2.45.1-5.hum1 | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | esm-infra-legacy/trusty | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | esm-infra-legacy/xenial | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | esm-infra/bionic | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | esm-infra/focal | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | esm-infra/xenial | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | jammy | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | noble | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | questing | * |
| Binutils | Ubuntu | upstream | * |
References
- https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33698
- https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33700
- https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=commitdiff;h=81e90cf63a10ad11772c2437c8f2a88f1a00c739
- https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=commitdiff;h=ea4bc025abdba85a90e26e13f551c16a44bfa92
- https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=ea4bc025abdba85a90e26e13f551c16a44bfa921