On version 2.30.51.20180206 and master branch of binutils:
there is a reachable assertion in the find_section function of (src/binutils/readelf.c), which could be triggered by the following POC.
The assertion statement is:
653 static Elf_Internal_Shdr *
654 find_section (Filedata * filedata, const char * name) {
658 assert (filedata->section_headers != NULL);
664 return NULL;
665 }
readelf: binutils/master/src/binutils/readelf.c:658: find_section: Assertion `filedata->section_headers != ((void *)0)' failed.