execstack --set-execstack<path> Aborted (core dump)

$ hardening-check /tmp/ls
/tmp/ls:
 Position Independent Executable: yes
 Stack protected: yes
 Fortify Source functions: yes (some protected functions found)
 Read-only relocations: yes
 Immediate binding: yes
 Stack clash protection: yes
 Control flow integrity: yes

On older releases, we can use --set-execstack on /bin/ls. hardening-check is different:

$ hardening-check /tmp/ls-bionic
/tmp/ls-bionic:
 Position Independent Executable: yes
 Stack protected: yes
 Fortify Source functions: yes (some protected functions found)
 Read-only relocations: yes
 Immediate binding: yes
 Stack clash protection: unknown, no -fstack-clash-protection instructions found
 Control flow integrity: unknown, no -fcf-protection instructions found!

On Ubuntu 20.04, I have the same problem:

$ execstack -s hello
execstack: dso.c:877: reopen_dso: Assertion `dso->shdr[j].sh_size == 0' failed.
Aborted (core dumped)

sander@witte2004:~/hello-world$ gcc -o hello hello.c

sander@witte2004:~/hello-world$ ./hello
Hello, world!

sander@witte2004:~/hello-world$ ldd hello
 linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fffe01f4000)
 libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f66793b0000)
 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f66795bf000)

sander@witte2004:~/hello-world$ execstack -s hello
execstack: dso.c:877: reopen_dso: Assertion `dso->shdr[j].sh_size == 0' failed.
Aborted (core dumped)

And same same with /usr/bin/ls :

sander@witte2004:~/hello-world$ cp /usr/bin/ls /tmp/

sander@witte2004:~/hello-world$ ll /tmp/ls
-rwxr-xr-x 1 sander sander 142144 jun 8 20:43 /tmp/ls*

sander@witte2004:~/hello-world$ execstack -s /tmp/ls
execstack: dso.c:877: reopen_dso: Assertion `dso->shdr[j].sh_size == 0' failed.
Aborted (core dumped)

sander@witte2004:~/hello-world$ execstack -q /tmp/ls
- /tmp/ls

FWIW: On Ubuntu 18.04 no problem:

sander@brixit:~$ execstack -s /tmp/ls
sander@brixit:~$

sander@brixit:~$ execstack -q /tmp/ls
X /tmp/ls

So it seems Ubuntu 20.04 specific?

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.