Executive brief
radare2 is a popular open-source reverse engineering framework used by security researchers to analyze software. A memory corruption vulnerability in its GDB client component allows a malicious or compromised GDB server to crash the application or potentially execute unauthorized code. This could lead to a loss of availability during security analysis or a compromise of the researcher's workstation.
Technical details
A use-after-free (specifically a double-free) vulnerability exists in radare2 version 6.1.5 and earlier within the `gdbr_pids_list()` function of the GDB client core. The flaw is triggered when a remote GDB server sends a successful response to a `qfThreadInfo` request but subsequently causes a `qsThreadInfo` request to fail. In this error state, the `dpid` variable is not reset to NULL after being appended to the process list; the error handling path then attempts to free the `dpid` pointer twice—once individually and once as part of the list cleanup. This memory corruption can be exploited by a malicious GDB server to cause a denial of service (crash) or potentially achieve remote code execution. A fix has been committed to the radare2 repository to nullify the pointer after list insertion.
Affected products
- radareorg radare2 <= 6.1.5
Timeline
- 2026-04-16: disclosed: Issue reported on GitHub
- 2026-05-15: advisory: NVD publication date
- 2026-05-15: patched: Fix committed to repository