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High

Open Babel has heap buffer overflow in SMILES OBSmilesParser::ParseSmiles

  • Disclosed: 30.06.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 14:18

Summary

A memory-safety vulnerability in Open Babel's SMILES parser caused a heap buffer overflow when reading a crafted input string.

Details

The flaw was in OBSmilesParser::ParseSmiles. A malformed SMILES input caused the parser to write past the end of a heap-allocated buffer.

Impact

Open Babel is a C++ library and CLI used to read and write chemistry file formats; it is shipped by Linux distributions and embedded in services that may parse untrusted input. Triggering this vulnerability requires the victim to parse a malicious SMILES string with the obabel tool, the OBConversion API, or any of the language bindings (Python, Ruby, Java, R, Perl, C#, PHP). SMILES strings are commonly passed on the command line and through scripted pipelines, so this primitive is especially reachable.

Affected versions

All releases up to and including 3.1.1.

Patched version

3.2.0 (released 2026-05-26).

Patch

Fix commit: https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/commit/b34cd604 Originally reported as #2831; fixes consolidated in #2913.

A minimized reproducer for this CVE is checked in under test/files/fuzz_regress/ and is exercised on every CI build under ASAN+UBSAN by the fuzzregresstest harness.

Credit

Reported via OSS-Fuzz.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) openbabel < 3.2.0 3.2.0

References

CVSS score 7.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-119
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
openbabel
Disclosed
30.06.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 14:18

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-2781 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-j35x-w4gj-pf7w - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: openbabel

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (24) in the archive
Total entries
24
First → latest
06.2026 07.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 16
  • Medium 2
  • Low 6

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in MOPAC translationVectors[] (UNIT CELL TRANSLATION)
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-46292 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  2. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in MSI translationVectors[]
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-46295 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  3. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in MOPAC IN translationVectors[] (Tv atom)
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-46294 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  4. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in MOPAC translationVectors[] (FINAL POINT)
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-46293 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  5. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in Gaussian translationVectors[]
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-46291 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  6. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in ORCA nAtoms parser (second variant)
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-46290 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  7. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in ORCA nAtoms parser
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-46289 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  8. Open Babel has uninitialized pointer dereference in PQS pFormat
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-46280 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  9. Open Babel has uninitialized pointer dereference in MSI atom parser
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-44451 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  10. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in MOL2 attribute/value parser
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-43607 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  11. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in PQS coord_file parser
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-43467 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  12. Open Babel has uninitialized pointer dereference in GRO residue parser
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-42885 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  13. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in CSR PadString (title field)
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-41793 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  14. Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in Gaussian coords_type orientation parser
    High · 7.8 CVE-2022-37331 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  15. Open Babel has heap buffer overflow in ChemKin ChemKinFormat::CheckSpecies
    High · 7.8 CVE-2025-10997 < 3.2.0 3.2.0
  16. Open Babel has heap buffer overflow in SMILES OBSmilesParser::ParseSmiles this entry
    High · 7.8 CVE-2025-10996 < 3.2.0 3.2.0

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