Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2026-90804: GNU Binutils heap buffer overflow in eh_frame handler

CVE-2026-90804 · Severity: medium · CVSS 4.8 · Published 2026-09-14

Technologies: Gnu Binutils. Vendors: Gnu.

Executive brief

GNU Binutils is a collection of tools used to assemble, link, and manipulate binary object files, which are essential components in software development and build pipelines. A heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the EH Frame Section Handler can cause a crash or potentially allow local code execution when processing specially crafted object files with malformed exception handling frame data.

Technical details

This is a heap out-of-bounds (OOB) write vulnerability affecting the _bfd_elf_write_section_eh_frame function in bfd/elf-eh-frame.c. The vulnerability is triggered via malformed .eh_frame sections that manipulate arguments such as cie_length, fde_length, augmentation_data_size, or write_offset, causing a negative-size memmove operation. Local access and the ability to supply a malicious binary object file are required to trigger the vulnerability. An attacker can cause a denial of service (SEGV crash) or potentially achieve local code execution. The vendor was notified early but has not yet issued a patch at the time of public disclosure.

Affected products

  • GNU Binutils 2.47

Timeline

  • 2026-09-14: disclosed
  • <UNKNOWN>: exploited: Public exploit code available

References

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