A use‑after‑free flaw has been identified in GRUB's gettext command handling. The issue arises because the gettext command remains registered in memory after its module is unloaded, allowing an attacker to invoke an orphaned command that accesses freed memory. This leads to a crash of the GRUB boot loader, which can halt the system boot sequence and cause a denial of service. While the attacker does not gain direct read or write access, the crash can disrupt service availability and potentially lead to loss of data integrity if the system is forced to recover from an incomplete boot.

Affected products include GNU GRUB 2 in general, and several Red Hat distributions. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, its Extended Update Support 10.0, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support line, RHEL 8 in various update support packages (8, 8.2 AUS, 8.4 AMSC, 8.4 EUS LLA, 8.6 AMSC, 8.6 TuS, 8.8 TuS and 8.8 SAP), RHEL 9 and its EUS and SAP variants (9, 9.0 SAP, 9.2 SAP, 9.4 EUS, 9.6 EUS), and the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform from version 4.12 to 4.19, which includes the underlying RHEL base. All systems that run the susceptible GRUB2 package are vulnerable.

The CVSS score of 7.8 classifies the issue as high impact. EPSS indicates a very low probability of exploitation (<1 %), and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA's KEV catalog. The weakness is a use‑after‑free (CWE‑416). Exploitation would require ability to invoke a boot‑time command that references the orphaned gettext entry, typically achievable by manipulating the GRUB configuration or the command line during system boot. A successful exploit would likely provide only denial of service rather than code execution or data disclosure, but it could prevent critical systems from starting.