CVE-2026-31973

MEDIUM EPSS 40.4%
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. Starting in version 1.17, in the cram-size command, used to write information about how well CRAM files are compressed, a check to see if the `cram_decode_compression_header()` was missing. If the function returned an error, this could lead to a NULL pointer dereference. Exploiting this bug causes a NULL pointer dereference. Typically this will cause the program to crash. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. 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:N/VI:L/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
40.4% percentile
Exploit & Patch Status
No Known Exploit
Patch Available

Weaknesses 1

CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference Memory Safety

Affected Products 3

VendorProductVersionRange
samtoolssamtools*≥1.17  –  ≤1.21.1
samtoolssamtools*≥1.22  –  <1.22.2
samtoolssamtools1.23any

References 3

  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/18/12
    Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
  • github.com https://github.com/samtools/samtools/commit/06fc2a219b3d7c94d3f412c09f6d1efd51199f2f
    Patch
  • github.com https://github.com/samtools/samtools/security/advisories/GHSA-x86f-q6fj-cm43
    Vendor Advisory

Remediation

  • github.com https://github.com/samtools/samtools/commit/06fc2a219b3d7c94d3f412c09f6d1efd51199f2f
    Patch