CVE-2026-81879

radare2: Heap out-of-bounds read in radare2 ELF PN_XNUM handling

Published Sep 22, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 5.5 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
radare2 is a UNIX-like reverse engineering framework and command-line toolset. Prior to 6.2.0, radare2's ELF PN_XNUM handling was vulnerable because the ELF parser allocated the program-header array using the resolved PN_XNUM count but several consumers still iterated with the original e_phnum value of 65535. The vulnerability is triggered by processing a crafted ELF file with e_phnum = 0xffff and a much smaller resolved count in shdr[0].sh_info. Consumers iterated beyond the allocated program-header array. This can cause a heap out-of-bounds read and process termination, resulting in denial of service; memory disclosure and code execution have not been demonstrated. This issue is fixed in version 6.2.0.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Radare
Radare radare2
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:radare:radare2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Radare
Radare radare2
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Radareorg
Radareorg radare2
Vendors & Products Radareorg
Radareorg radare2
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description radare2 is a UNIX-like reverse engineering framework and command-line toolset. Prior to 6.2.0, radare2's ELF PN_XNUM handling was vulnerable because the ELF parser allocated the program-header array using the resolved PN_XNUM count but several consumers still iterated with the original e_phnum value of 65535. The vulnerability is triggered by processing a crafted ELF file with e_phnum = 0xffff and a much smaller resolved count in shdr[0].sh_info. Consumers iterated beyond the allocated program-header array. This can cause a heap out-of-bounds read and process termination, resulting in denial of service; memory disclosure and code execution have not been demonstrated. This issue is fixed in version 6.2.0.
Title radare2: Heap out-of-bounds read in radare2 ELF PN_XNUM handling
Weaknesses CWE-125
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Sep 22, 2026, 3:38 PM
Reserved
Aug 27, 2026, 5:48 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Sep 22, 2026, 4:18 PM
Modified
Sep 25, 2026, 4:53 PM