{"id":"CVE-2026-19548","state":"PUBLISHED","title":"Binutils: binutils: multiple use-after-free in add_archive_element via lto plugin processing","description":"Multiple Use-After-Free vulnerabilities were found in the add_archive_element function in ld/ldmain.c of the GNU linker (ld), a component of binutils. The root cause is that plugin_maybe_claim() in ld/plugin.c frees the original BFD object via bfd_close/_bfd_delete_bfd when entry->the_bfd->my_archive == NULL, but the caller retains both the original abfd parameter and a shallow copy (orig_input.the_bfd) as dangling pointers. These dangling pointers are subsequently dereferenced at three distinct locations in add_archive_element:\n\n1. Line ~1442: accessing abfd->my_archive via bfd_usrdata(abfd->my_archive)\n2. Line ~1493: multiple accesses to abfd and abfd->my_archive in a conditional check and bfd_get_filename call\n3. Line ~1525: dereferencing the shallow copy orig_input.the_bfd->my_archive in trace/verbose logging\n\nThe vulnerability is triggered when LTO plugins are active (link_info.lto_plugin_active is true) and the input object has abfd->my_archive == NULL, which is a valid state for standalone object files. Red Hat builds binutils with --enable-plugins and --enable-lto, confirming the vulnerable code path is compiled in and reachable.\n\nAn attacker who can supply a crafted object or archive file to a build process using LTO-enabled linking could exploit this flaw to cause a denial of service (linker crash via segmentation fault). Arbitrary code execution is theoretically possible through heap manipulation but is substantially mitigated by hardening measures including stack protector, FORTIFY_SOURCE, ASLR, and PIE.\n\nThe attack surface is limited to build-time environments — the linker is a development tool not exposed in production runtime. The most realistic exploitation scenario is a supply chain attack introducing a crafted object file as a build dependency in CI/CD pipelines or development environments.","publishedAt":"2026-08-12T15:51:39.126Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-14T02:39:21.588Z","severity":{"score":5.5,"label":"Medium","version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","source":"redhat"},"assigner":"redhat","products":["Red Hat Red Hat Hardened Images","Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10","Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6","Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7","Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8","Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9","Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4"],"affected":[{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Hardened Images","packageName":"binutils-main","defaultStatus":"affected","versions":[{"version":"2.46.1-1.4.hum1","status":"unaffected","lessThan":"*","versionType":"rpm"}],"collectionURL":"https://catalog.redhat.com/software/containers/","cpes":["cpe:/a:redhat:hummingbird:1"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10","packageName":"binutils","defaultStatus":"affected","collectionURL":"https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/","cpes":["cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10","packageName":"gcc-toolset-15-binutils","defaultStatus":"affected","collectionURL":"https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/","cpes":["cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10","packageName":"gcc-toolset-16-binutils","defaultStatus":"affected","collectionURL":"https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/","cpes":["cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10","packageName":"mingw-binutils","defaultStatus":"affected","collectionURL":"https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/","cpes":["cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6","packageName":"binutils","defaultStatus":"unknown","collectionURL":"https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/","cpes":["cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7","packageName":"binutils","defaultStatus":"affected","collectionURL":"https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/","cpes":["cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 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lto plugin processing","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"Multiple Use-After-Free vulnerabilities were found in the add_archive_element function in ld/ldmain.c of the GNU linker (ld), a component of binutils. The root cause is that plugin_maybe_claim() in ld/plugin.c frees the original BFD object via bfd_close/_bfd_delete_bfd when entry->the_bfd->my_archive == NULL, but the caller retains both the original abfd parameter and a shallow copy (orig_input.the_bfd) as dangling pointers. These dangling pointers are subsequently dereferenced at three distinct locations in add_archive_element:\n\n1. Line ~1442: accessing abfd->my_archive via bfd_usrdata(abfd->my_archive)\n2. Line ~1493: multiple accesses to abfd and abfd->my_archive in a conditional check and bfd_get_filename call\n3. Line ~1525: dereferencing the shallow copy orig_input.the_bfd->my_archive in trace/verbose logging\n\nThe vulnerability is triggered when LTO plugins are active (link_info.lto_plugin_active is true) and the input object has abfd->my_archive == NULL, which is a valid state for standalone object files. Red Hat builds binutils with --enable-plugins and --enable-lto, confirming the vulnerable code path is compiled in and reachable.\n\nAn attacker who can supply a crafted object or archive file to a build process using LTO-enabled linking could exploit this flaw to cause a denial of service (linker crash via segmentation fault). Arbitrary code execution is theoretically possible through heap manipulation but is substantially mitigated by hardening measures including stack protector, FORTIFY_SOURCE, ASLR, and PIE.\n\nThe attack surface is limited to build-time environments — the linker is a development tool not exposed in production runtime. The most realistic exploitation scenario is a supply chain attack introducing a crafted object file as a build dependency in CI/CD pipelines or development environments."}],"affected":[{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Hardened Images","packageName":"binutils-main","defaultStatus":"affected","versions":[{"version":"2.46.1-1.4.hum1","status":"unaffected","lessThan":"*","versionType":"rpm"}],"collectionURL":"https://catalog.redhat.com/software/containers/","cpes":["cpe:/a:redhat:hummingbird:1"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10","packageName":"binutils","defaultStatus":"affected","collectionURL":"https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/","cpes":["cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"]},{"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 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The linker is a build-time tool, not present in production runtimes, so the realistic exposure is to CI/CD pipelines and developer workstations that build from untrusted or externally-contributed sources (supply-chain style attack). Standard hardening measures (ASLR, stack protector, FORTIFY_SOURCE, PIE) substantially reduce the likelihood of arbitrary code execution via heap manipulation, limiting the more realistic impact to a linker crash (denial of service)."}],"timeline":[{"lang":"en","time":"2026-06-10T00:00:00.000Z","value":"Reported to Red Hat."},{"lang":"en","time":"2026-08-12T13:40:00.000Z","value":"Made public."}],"credits":[{"lang":"en","value":"Red Hat would like to thank Xuqing Yang (Individual Security Researcher (rigelyoung@icloud.com)) for reporting this issue."}],"x_generator":{"engine":"cvelib 1.8.0"}},"adp":[{"title":"CISA ADP Vulnrichment","metrics":[{"other":{"type":"ssvc","content":{"timestamp":"2026-08-12T16:52:48.222617Z","id":"CVE-2026-19548","options":[{"Exploitation":"none"},{"Automatable":"no"},{"Technical Impact":"partial"}],"role":"CISA Coordinator","version":"2.0.3"}}}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"CISA-ADP","orgId":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0","dateUpdated":"2026-08-12T16:53:47.273Z"}}]}}}