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CVE-2026-31968

HIGH CVSS 4.0: 8.8 EPSS 0.02%
Updated Mar 19, 2026
Htslib
Parameter Value
CVSS 8.8 (HIGH)
Affected Versions 1.22 — 1.22.2
Fixed In 1.21.1
Type CWE-843 (Type Confusion), CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), CWE-121 (Stack-based Buffer Overflow), CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)
Vendor Htslib
Public PoC No

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 Parameters

Attack Vector
Network
Can be exploited remotely
Attack Complexity
Low
Easy to exploit
Attack Requirements
None
No additional conditions
Privileges Required
None
No privileges needed
User Interaction
None
No user interaction needed

Impact Assessment

Confidentiality
None
No data leak
Integrity
High
Complete data modification
Availability
Low
Partial disruption

CVSS Vector v4.0

Vulnerable Products 3

Configuration From (including) Up to (excluding)
Htslib Htslib
cpe:2.3:a:htslib:htslib:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.21.1
Htslib Htslib
cpe:2.3:a:htslib:htslib:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.22 1.22.2
Htslib Htslib
cpe:2.3:a:htslib:htslib:1.23:*:*:*:*:*:*:*