Reference page — cumulative record through Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.
CVE-2026-19548
Red Hat Red Hat Hardened Images — Binutils: binutils: multiple use-after-free in add_archive_element via lto plugin processing
AV AC PR UI S C I A CVSS EPSS %ile KEV
L L N R U N N H 5.5 .0017 5.6 —
AFFECTED
Product Versions Fixed
Red Hat Hardened Images unspecified 2.46.1-1.4.hum1
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 unspecified —
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 unspecified —
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 unspecified —
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 unspecified —
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 unspecified —
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 unspecified —
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 unspecified —
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 unspecified —
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 unspecified —
+ 8 more
TIMELINE
Aug 11 Reserved by redhat
Aug 12 Published (CNA: redhat)
Oct 13 PATCH SHIPPED — CVE-2026-19548 (Red Hat Hardened Images). Fixed in Red Hat Hardened Images 2.46.1-1.4.hum1.
Description
Multiple Use-After-Free vulnerabilities were found in the add_archive_element function in ld/ldmain.c of the GNU linker (ld), a component of binutils. The root cause is that plugin_maybe_claim() in ld/plugin.c frees the original BFD object via bfd_close/_bfd_delete_bfd when entry->the_bfd->my_archive == NULL, but the caller retains both the original abfd parameter and a shallow copy (orig_input.the_bfd) as dangling pointers. These dangling pointers are subsequently dereferenced at three distinct locations in add_archive_element:
1. Line ~1442: accessing abfd->my_archive via bfd_usrdata(abfd->my_archive)
2. Line ~1493: multiple accesses to abfd and abfd->my_archive in a conditional check and bfd_get_filename call
3. Line ~1525: dereferencing the shallow copy orig_input.the_bfd->my_archive in trace/verbose logging
The vulnerability is triggered when LTO plugins are active (link_info.lto_plugin_active is true) and the input object has abfd->my_archive == NULL, which is a valid state for standalone object files. Red Hat builds binutils with --enable-plugins and --enable-lto, confirming the vulnerable code path is compiled in and reachable.
An attacker who can supply a crafted object or archive file to a build process using LTO-enabled linking could exploit this flaw to cause a denial of service (linker crash via segmentation fault). Arbitrary code execution is theoretically possible through heap manipulation but is substantially mitigated by hardening measures including stack protector, FORTIFY_SOURCE, ASLR, and PIE.
The attack surface is limited to build-time environments — the linker is a development tool not exposed in production runtime. The most realistic exploitation scenario is a supply chain attack introducing a crafted object file as a build dependency in CI/CD pipelines or development environments.
Lifecycle
Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
| Date | Event | Detail |
|---|
| August 11, 2026 | Reserved | Reserved by redhat |
| August 12, 2026 | Published | Published (CNA: redhat) |
| October 13, 2026 | PATCH SHIPPED | PATCH SHIPPED — CVE-2026-19548 (Red Hat Hardened Images). Fixed in Red Hat Hardened Images 2.46.1-1.4.hum1. |
Affected
Affected products and packages — 18 rows
| Vendor | Product / Package | Ecosystem | Version introduced | Fixed |
|---|
| Red Hat | Red Hat Hardened Images | — | — | 2.46.1-1.4.hum1 |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | — | — | — |
| Red Hat | Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | — | — | — |
About this page
This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2026-19548 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.
