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Hardened ImagesApplication · Redhat

CVE-2026-6844

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
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.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A flaw in the readelf utility of binutils allows a local attacker to cause denial of service by providing a specially crafted ELF file. The vulnerability manifests as either resource exhaustion (CWE-400) leading to out-of-memory condition, or null pointer dereference (CWE-476) causing segmentation fault, both resulting in readelf becoming unresponsive or crashing.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patch or update to the binutils package to remediate this vulnerability. As a defense-in-depth measure, avoid processing untrusted ELF files with readelf until the patch is applied.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Hardened ImagesApplication
Affected:all versions
Openshift Container PlatformApplication
Affected:= 4.0
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0
BinutilsApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify readelf is installed
    Run 'which readelf' or 'readelf --version' to confirm the binary exists on the system
    Affected if readelf is present on the system - the vulnerability is in the readelf utility itself, so any installation is potentially affected
  2. Determine installed binutils version
    Run 'readelf --version' and extract the binutils version number, then compare against vendor advisories for CVE-2026-6844
    Affected if The installed version matches the affected versions listed in vendor security advisories (all versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, Red Hat Openshift Container Platform 4.0, Red Hat Hardened Images all versions, or Gnu Binutils all versions)
  3. Identify if readelf processes untrusted ELF files
    Search for scripts, cron jobs, or automated tools that invoke readelf: 'grep -r readelf /etc/cron* /opt/ /home/ 2>/dev/null' and review any file upload or ELF analysis workflows
    Affected if There are automated processes or user workflows that invoke readelf on ELF files from untrusted or external sources
  4. Check for web-facing ELF file processing
    Review any web applications, API endpoints, or services that accept ELF file uploads and run readelf for analysis or validation
    Affected if The environment hosts services that accept ELF files from users or external systems and process them with readelf
  5. Audit file upload directories for ELF content
    Search for .elf, .so, or other ELF-format files in publicly accessible upload directories: 'find /var/www /tmp /upload -name "*.elf" -o -name "*.so" 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if ELF files from untrusted sources are present in directories where readelf might be automatically invoked

The system is affected if binutils/readelf is installed and the environment involves processing ELF files from untrusted sources using readelf, since the vulnerability triggers during parsing of specially crafted ELF files.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied patch or update to the binutils package to remediate this vulnerability. As a defense-in-depth measure, avoid processing untrusted ELF files with readelf until the patch is applied.

Fix this in Hardened Images Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-6844 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data