HighCVE-2025-7546

    GNU Binutils elf.c bfd_elf_set_group_contents out-of-bounds write (CVE-2025-7546)

    Published Last modified Sources: Siemens ProductCERT, BSI, SUSE, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide, EUVD

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    What is affected, what to do

    A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in GNU Binutils 2.45. Affected by this issue is the function bfd_elf_set_group_contents of the file bfd/elf.c.

    An exploit is publicly available. The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below.

    Affected
    • GNU Binutils eq 2.45..2.45

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    7.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    5.3

    CVSS v3

    Severity Medium on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: Siemens ProductCERT, BSI, SUSE, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide, EUVD

    0.2 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 10.9

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    High
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    37.25 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    PoC (publicly reported)
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    7.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    5.3
    CVSS v4

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    4.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.2 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    10.9
    Elevated — this CVE ranks above at least 10% of all CVEs scored today.
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: proof of concept · not automatable · Technical impact: partial
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 14 July 2025
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-787, CWE-119

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in GNU Binutils 2.45. Affected by this issue is the function bfd_elf_set_group_contents of the file bfd/elf.c. The manipulation leads to out-of-bounds write. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The name of the patch is 41461010eb7c79fee7a9d5f6209accdaac66cc6b. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue.

    Source: siemens_advisory, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, suse_csaf, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), Microsoft Security Update Guide, CVE.org (MITRE), ENISA EUVD

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    GNUBinutils
    • 2.45
    • —
    gnubinutils
    • 2.45
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-787Out-of-bounds Write

      Base

      The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-787

    • CWE-119Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

      Class

      The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. This may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-119

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    Reference tagged as exploitsourceware.org (opens in a new tab)PoC (publicly reported)reported, not verified—

    References & sources

    • vuldb.comVDB-316244 | GNU Binutils elf.c bfd_elf_set_group_contents out-of-bounds writeVulnerability database, Technical description
    • vuldb.comVDB-316244 | CTI Indicators (IOB, IOC, IOA)signature, Permissions required
    • vuldb.comSubmit #614375 | GNU binutils--gdb 2.45 Out-of-bounds WriteThird-party advisory
    • sourceware.orgbugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050Issue tracking
    • sourceware.orgbugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050Issue tracking
    • sourceware.orgbugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=16118Exploit
    • sourceware.orggit/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=41461010eb7c79fee7a9d5f6209…Patch
    • gnu.orgProduct
    • Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-265688.html
    • Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-082556.html

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedVulDB

      Show 24 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=16118
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050#c2
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=41461010eb7c79fee7a9d5f6209accdaac66cc6b
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.316244
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://vuldb.com/?id.316244
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://vuldb.com/?submit.614375
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://www.gnu.org/
      Referenceremoved
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=16118
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050#c2
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=41461010eb7c79fee7a9d5f6209accdaac66cc6b
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.316244
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://vuldb.com/?id.316244
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://vuldb.com/?submit.614375
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://www.gnu.org/
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=16118 Types: Broken Link
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050 Types: Broken Link
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050#c2 Types: Broken Link
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=41461010eb7c79fee7a9d5f6209accdaac66cc6b Types: Broken Link
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.316244 Types: Permissions Required, VDB Entry
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://vuldb.com/?id.316244 Types: Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://vuldb.com/?submit.614375 Types: Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://www.gnu.org/ Types: Product
      —

      Source identifier: cna@vuldb.com

    2. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      Show 3 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050
      Referenceremoved
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33050 Types: Broken Link
      —

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    3. Record modifiedSiemens ADP

      Show 5 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2025/7xxx/CVE-2025-7546.json">CVE-2025-7546</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
      Referenceremoved
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
      —

      Source identifier: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e

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