# CVE-2025-11840: GNU Binutils ldmisc.c vfinfo out-of-bounds

> A local attacker can trigger an out-of-bounds read in GNU Binutils, potentially causing information disclosure or application crashes.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.8 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-11840, CLSA-2025-1766412859, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-11840, ECHO-d807-1cad-5f60, GHSA-jp92-pqpq-f69p, MINI-qc9v-cqhx-rpfm, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-11840, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-11840

## What is CVE-2025-11840?

CVE-2025-11840 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 16 Oct 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A weakness has been identified in GNU Binutils 2.45. The affected element is the function vfinfo of the file ldmisc.c. Executing a manipulation can lead to out-of-bounds read. The attack can only be executed locally. The exploit has been made available to the public and could be used for attacks. This patch is called 16357. It is best practice to apply a patch to resolve this issue.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-11840?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Binutils.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-11840?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-11840 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-11840 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gnu Binutils

- [CVE-2017-7614](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7614/): Null dereference in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-9939](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-9939/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-7226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7226/): Information disclosure in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2017-6969](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6969/): Information disclosure in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2020-19726](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-19726/): Denial of service in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-11840 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-11840 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 16 Oct 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-11840 exists.

Affected product: Gnu Binutils. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-11840/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-11840/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-11840
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-11840
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-11840

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-11840/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.