CVE-2026-31968
HTSlib CRAM decoder vulnerable to buffer overflow
HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data using a variety of encodings and compression methods. For the VARINT and CONST encodings, incomplete validation of the context in which the encodings were used could result in up to eight bytes being written beyond the end of a heap allocation, or up to eight bytes being written to the location of a one byte variable on the stack, possibly causing the values to adjacent variables to change unexpectedly. Depending on the data stream this could result either in a heap buffer overflow or a stack overflow. If a user opens a file crafted to exploit this issue it could lead to the program crashing, overwriting of data structures on the heap or stack in ways not expected by the program, or changing the control flow of the program. It may be possible to use this to obtain arbitrary code execution. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
8.8
HTSlib CRAM decoder vulnerable to buffer overflow
HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data using a variety of encodings and compression methods. For the VARINT and CONST encodings, incomplete validation of the context in which the encodings were used could result in up to eight bytes being written beyond the end of a heap allocation, or up to eight bytes being written to the location of a one byte variable on the stack, possibly causing the values to adjacent variables to change unexpectedly. Depending on the data stream this could result either in a heap buffer overflow or a stack overflow. If a user opens a file crafted to exploit this issue it could lead to the program crashing, overwriting of data structures on the heap or stack in ways not expected by the program, or changing the control flow of the program. It may be possible to use this to obtain arbitrary code execution. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
- Record
CVE-2026-31968- CVSS 4.0
- 8.8 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-121, CWE-122, CWE-787, CWE-843
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-12942
8.8
HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data using a variety of encodings and compression methods. For the VARINT and CONST encodings, incomplete validation of the context in which the encodings were used could result in up to eight bytes being written beyond the end of a heap allocation, or up to eight bytes being written to the location of a one byte variable on the stack, possibly causing the values to adjacent variables to change unexpectedly. Depending on the data stream this could result either in a heap buffer overflow or a stack overflow. If a user opens a file crafted to exploit this issue it could lead to the program crashing, overwriting of data structures on the heap or stack in ways not expected by the program, or changing the control flow of the program. It may be possible to use this to obtain arbitrary code execution. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
- Record
EUVD-2026-12942- CVSS 4.0
- 8.8 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
8.8
HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data using a variety of encodings and compression methods. For the VARINT and CONST encodings, incomplete validation of the context in which the encodings were used could result in up to eight bytes being written beyond the end of a heap allocation, or up to eight bytes being written to the location of a one byte variable on the stack, possibly causing the values to adjacent variables to change unexpectedly. Depending on the data stream this could result either in a heap buffer overflow or a stack overflow. If a user opens a file crafted to exploit this issue it could lead to the program crashing, overwriting of data structures on the heap or stack in ways not expected by the program, or changing the control flow of the program. It may be possible to use this to obtain arbitrary code execution. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
- Record
CVE-2026-31968- CVSS 4.0
- 8.8 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X - CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-121, CWE-122, CWE-787, CWE-843
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
8.8
HTSlib CRAM decoder vulnerable to buffer overflow
HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data using a variety of encodings and compression methods. For the VARINT and CONST encodings, incomplete validation of the context in which the encodings were used could result in up to eight bytes being written beyond the end of a heap allocation, or up to eight bytes being written to the location of a one byte variable on the stack, possibly causing the values to adjacent variables to change unexpectedly. Depending on the data stream this could result either in a heap buffer overflow or a stack overflow. If a user opens a file crafted to exploit this issue it could lead to the program crashing, overwriting of data structures on the heap or stack in ways not expected by the program, or changing the control flow of the program. It may be possible to use this to obtain arbitrary code execution. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
- Record
CVE-2026-31968- CVSS 4.0
- 8.8 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-121, CWE-122, CWE-787, CWE-843
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2026-31968
8.1
HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data using a variety of encodings and compression methods. For the VARINT and CONST encodings, incomplete validation of the context in which the encodings were used could result in up to eight bytes being written beyond the end of a heap allocation, or up to eight bytes being written to the location of a one byte variable on the stack, possibly causing the values to adjacent variables to change unexpectedly. Depending on the data stream this could result either in a heap buffer overflow or a stack overflow. If a user opens a file crafted to exploit this issue it could lead to the program crashing, overwriting of data structures on the heap or stack in ways not expected by the program, or changing the control flow of the program. It may be possible to use this to obtain arbitrary code execution. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2026-31968- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2026-31968
8.8
HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data using a variety of encodings and compression methods. For the VARINT and CONST encodings, incomplete validation of the context in which the encodings were used could result in up to eight bytes being written beyond the end of a heap allocation, or up to eight bytes being written to the location of a one byte variable on the stack, possibly causing the values to adjacent variables to change unexpectedly. Depending on the data stream this could result either in a heap buffer overflow or a stack overflow. If a user opens a file crafted to exploit this issue it could lead to the program crashing, overwriting of data structures on the heap or stack in ways not expected by the program, or changing the control flow of the program. It may be possible to use this to obtain arbitrary code execution. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2026-31968- CVSS 4.0
- 8.8 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
htslibDebian:12 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.16+ds-31.17+ds-0+exp11.17+ds-11.18+ds-0+exp11.18+ds-1 Show 15 moreShow less1.19+ds-0+exp01.19+ds-11.19+ds-1+exp11.19+ds-1.11.20+ds-11.20+ds-21.21+ds-0+exp11.21+ds-0+exp21.21+ds-11.22.1+ds-11.22.1+ds-21.22.1+ds2-11.24-11.24-21.24-3 |
None known |
htslibDebian:13 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.21+ds-11.22.1+ds-11.22.1+ds-21.22.1+ds2-11.24-11.24-21.24-3 |
None known |
htslibDebian:14 |
before 1.24-2, plus listed versions 1.21+ds-11.22.1+ds-11.22.1+ds-21.22.1+ds2-11.24-1 |
1.24-2 |
htslibUbuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.2.0~rc3-10.2.0~rc3-1ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
None known |
htslibUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.2.1-11.2.1-21.2.1-2ubuntu11.2.1-2ubuntu1+esm1 |
None known |
htslibUbuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.5-11.5-4ubuntu11.6-3ubuntu11.6-41.6-4build11.7-21.7-2ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
None known |
htslibUbuntu:20.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.9-101.9-111.9-121.10.2-2ubuntu11.10.2-2ubuntu21.10.2-31.10.2-3ubuntu0.1 |
None known |
htslibUbuntu:22.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.13+ds-21.13+ds-2build1 |
None known |
htslibUbuntu:24.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.17+ds-11.18+ds-11.19+ds-1.1build21.19+ds-1.1build3 |
None known |
htslibUbuntu:25.10 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.21+ds-1 |
None known |
htslibUbuntu:26.10 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.22.1+ds2-11.22.1+ds2-1build1 |
None known |
htslibUbuntu:26.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.21+ds-11.22.1+ds2-1 |
None known |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-31968 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.8) in Htslib, published March 18, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.43%, the 37th percentile. Fixed in htslib 1.24-2.
References
github.com/samtools/htslib/security/advisories/GHSA-cgcm-c9r2-p57j
github.com/samtools/htslib/commit/0ec436796eca7b4ce7fcc9b77270c102da29bb2e
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/31xxx/CVE-2026-31968.json
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31968
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-31968
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-31968
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-31968