# CVE-2025-69651: Null dereference in n/a

> A crafted ELF binary causes readelf to crash via an invalid pointer free, resulting in denial of service for developers using the tool.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 22 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-79574, AZL-79580, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-69651, ECHO-30c0-a594-f90e, GHSA-v4pr-w75g-wfrf, MINI-8444-x9p7-f644, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-69651

## What is CVE-2025-69651?

CVE-2025-69651 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 6 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

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.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-69651?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Binutils.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-69651?

No fix published yet.

## Is CVE-2025-69651 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-69651 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-2025-69651 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-69651 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 6 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-69651 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-2025-69651/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-69651/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-69651
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-69651
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-69651

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-69651/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.