When gdal_rasterize is used with a raster data file which is not georeferenced, a segmentation fault occurs.
Steps to reproduce :
Download a bitmap file of the world (http://veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov//2433/land_shallow_topo_2048.tif)
and a shape file of the administrative limits (http://www.pagcgeo.org/world_factbk.zip).
gdal_rasterize -b 1 -b 2 -b 3 -burn 255 -burn 0 -burn 0 -l world_factbk world_factbk.shp land_shallow_topo_2048.tif
GDAL: Auto register /usr/lib/gdalplugins/gdal_GRASS.so using GDALRegister_GRASS.
OGR: Auto register /usr/lib/gdalplugins/ogr_GRASS.so using RegisterOGRGRASS.
GRASS: OGRGRASSDataSource::Open
GRASS: OGRGRASSDataSource::~OGRGRASSDataSource()
OGR: OGROpen(world_factbk.shp/0x616720) succeeded as ESRI Shapefile.
GDAL: GDALOpen(land_shallow_topo_2048.tif) succeeds as GTiff.
0100 - done.
Shape: 27459 features read on layer 'world_factbk'.
Segmentation fault
Expected result
gdal_rasterize should exit with an error message such as "raster data not georeferenced".
I have not tested with a non-referenced vector data file, but it should also be checked.