# CVE-2026-6844: Binutils: binutils: denial of service vulnerabilities in readelf via crafted elf files

> A local attacker can cause a denial of service in the readelf utility via crafted ELF files, leading to crashes or resource exhaustion.

- **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:** 22 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 1 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** CLSA-2026-1790167629, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-6844, ECHO-8b0a-b11c-14d1, GHSA-p33j-xffm-gxj7, MINI-jc9v-mp77-359h, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-6844

## What is CVE-2026-6844?

CVE-2026-6844 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 22 Apr 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

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.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-6844?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Gnu Binutils, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Redhat Hardened Images, Redhat Openshift Container Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-6844?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-6844 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-6844 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## 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-2026-6844 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-6844 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Binutils, published on 22 Apr 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: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-6844 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2026-6844/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6844/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-6844
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-6844
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-6844

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6844/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.