CVE-2026-31972

MEDIUM EPSS 40.0%
Published Mar 18, 20263mo ago · Modified Mar 19, 20263mo ago
6.9 CVSS 4.0
Medium
Find Similar
Published Mar 18, 2026 3mo ago
Last Modified Mar 19, 2026 3mo ago

Description

SAMtools is a program for reading, manipulating and writing bioinformatics file formats. The `mpileup` command outputs DNA sequences that have been aligned against a known reference. On each output line it writes the reference position, optionally the reference DNA base at that position (obtained from a separate file) and all of the DNA bases that aligned to that position. As the output is ordered by position, reference data that is no longer needed is discarded once it has been printed out. Under certain conditions the data could be discarded too early, leading to an attempt to read from a pointer to freed memory. This bug may allow information about program state to be leaked. It may also cause a program crash through an attempt to access invalid memory. This bug is fixed in versions 1.21.1 and 1.22. There is no workaround for this issue.

CVSS Details

Base Score
6.9
Exploitability
—
Impact
—
Vector string
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/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
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Privileges Required None
User Interaction None
Scope X

Threat Intelligence

EPSS Exploit Probability
40.0% percentile
Exploit & Patch Status
No Known Exploit
Patch Available

Weaknesses 1

CWE-416 Use After Free Memory Safety

Affected Products 1

VendorProductVersionRange
samtoolssamtools* <1.21.1

References 3

  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/18/11
    Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
  • github.com https://github.com/samtools/samtools/commit/3036eb9af945fcef359427a2d359855553da4adf
    Patch
  • github.com https://github.com/samtools/samtools/security/advisories/GHSA-72c8-4jf3-f27p
    Vendor Advisory

Remediation

  • github.com https://github.com/samtools/samtools/commit/3036eb9af945fcef359427a2d359855553da4adf
    Patch