Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2026-6845 is a denial-of-service flaw in GNU binutils readelf. A user or automated process must process a specially crafted ELF file. Successful exploitation can crash the tool or consume excessive resources, affecting availability rather than data confidentiality or integrity.
Executive priority
Treat this as routine but timely remediation. It is not a remote code execution issue, but it can disrupt developer, CI, or analysis services that handle untrusted binaries.
Technical view
Red Hat describes a CWE-476 flaw in readelf within binutils. The CVSS 3.1 vector is AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, score 5.0. Red Hat lists affected binutils, related gcc-toolset binutils, gdb, mingw-binutils, and Hardened Images packages across RHEL 6 through 10.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on Red Hat systems that inspect, debug, scan, or build untrusted ELF binaries, especially CI, malware-analysis, build, support, and developer workstations. Pure servers that never process attacker-supplied binaries have lower practical exposure.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation and KEV is false. Abuse requires local privileges and user interaction or an automated workflow that feeds a crafted ELF file into affected tooling. Impact is availability only per the supplied CVSS vector.
Researcher notes
Key gaps remain in the supplied bundle: no exploit proof, no KEV listing, no detailed patch version matrix, and no upstream root-cause detail beyond readelf and CWE-476. Avoid assuming broader product impact outside Red Hat’s listed packages.
Mitigation direction
- Review the Red Hat CVE page and linked RHSAs for package-specific fixes.
- Update affected Red Hat packages when vendor advisories provide corrected builds.
- Limit automated readelf/binutils processing of untrusted ELF files until patched.
- Run binary analysis workloads with resource limits and low privileges.
- Prioritize exposed CI, malware-analysis, and upload-processing environments first.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Red Hat systems for affected binutils, gdb, and toolset packages.
- Map systems against the affected RHEL and Hardened Images entries.
- Identify workflows that process external or user-submitted ELF files.
- Confirm remediation status against RHSA-2026:34924 and RHSA-2026:39022.
- Monitor Red Hat Bugzilla 2460012 for clarification or status changes.
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-476: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupContainer behavior lookup
The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-6845 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H1.33.6redhatVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- Source timelineredhat
Reported to Red Hat.
- Source timelineredhat
Made public.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- RHSA-2026:34924CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:39022CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-6845CVE reference, redhat · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2460012CVE reference, redhat · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
NULL Pointer Dereference
NULL Pointer Dereference represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.