CVE-2026-31962
Description
A flaw was found in htslib, a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. A local user could exploit a heap buffer overflow vulnerability by opening a specially crafted CRAM file. This flaw occurs due to incorrect handling of certain CRAM format records, leading to reading and writing a single byte beyond a heap allocation. Successful exploitation could result in a program crash, data corruption, or potentially arbitrary code execution.
Statement
This is an IMPORTANT heap buffer overflow flaw in the HTSlib CRAM reader. The vulnerability can be triggered when processing a specially crafted CRAM file, potentially leading to application crashes, data corruption, or arbitrary code execution. This issue affects Red Hat Community Projects, including EPEL and Fedora.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Other,Integrity,Availability
Technical Impact: Varies by Context; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); Modify Memory; Read Memory
When the quantity is not properly validated, then attackers can specify malicious quantities to cause excessive resource allocation, trigger unexpected failures, enable buffer overflows, etc.
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