CVE-2026-6844
Description
A flaw was found in the readelf utility of the binutils package. A local attacker could exploit two Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerabilities by providing a specially crafted Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) file. One vulnerability, a resource exhaustion (CWE-400), can lead to an out-of-memory condition. The other, a null pointer dereference (CWE-476), can cause a segmentation fault. Both issues can result in the readelf utility becoming unresponsive or crashing, leading to a denial of service.
Statement
Moderate: A denial of service vulnerability in readelf can be triggered by processing a crafted ELF file, leading to resource exhaustion or a null pointer dereference. This issue affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9, and 10, as well as other Red Hat products that include the binutils package. Exploitation requires a local attacker to entice a user to execute readelf on a malicious file.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, users should avoid using the `readelf` utility on untrusted or suspicious ELF files. Processing a specially crafted ELF file with `readelf` can lead to a denial of service.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | 5.5 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank samuel kariri kamau for reporting this issue.
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