An out‑of‑bounds write was identified in the DLX ELF backend of GNU binutils, where the function that translates ELF relocation types into internal data structures does not properly validate external relocation type values. A crafted ELF/DLX object file can trigger this flaw, allowing an attacker to overwrite memory in the binutils process. The vulnerability has been demonstrated to achieve arbitrary code execution through a file‑stream oriented programming attack against the glibc FILE structures used for standard error, effectively redirecting execution flow to a system call.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, Red Hat Hardened Images, and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 are affected when provided with the default binutils build that includes the DLX backend. The flaw is relevant for any tool that consumes binaries via binutils – including objdump, readelf, strip, ld, nm, and objcopy – when they are given a malicious ELF/DLX object.

The CVSS score of 7.8 reflects a high impact severity, while the EPSS score is below 1 % indicating that widespread exploitation is unlikely but still possible, especially in automated build pipelines or malware analysis environments that process untrusted binaries. The issue is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which typically means no active widespread exploitation has been documented. An attacker needs only to supply a specially crafted object file to a vulnerable binutils tool; no additional privileges or network access are required beyond the ability to run the tool on the target system.