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🛡️ CVE-2022-46289 — open-babel

🔴 CVSS 9.8 — Critical ⚠️ Exploit Public CWE-122 NVD
9.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in ORCA nAtoms parser

Summary

A memory-safety vulnerability in Open Babel's ORCA parser allowed an

out-of-bounds write when reading a crafted input file.

Details

The flaw was in the nAtoms handling of the ORCA reader. A malformed

input caused the parser to write past the end of its destination

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 open a malicious ORCA file with the obabel

tool, the OBConversion API, or any of the language bindings (Python,

Ruby, Java, R, Perl, C#, PHP).

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/b239d06e

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 by Cisco TALOS.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Weakness class

CVE-2022-46289 is classified as CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow. A write past the end of a heap allocation corrupts allocator metadata or neighbouring objects.

Affected software

CVE-2022-46289 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • open-babel
  • openbabel (fixed in 3.2.0)

Timeline and source

Published on 21 July 2023 and last revised on 17 June 2026. A public exploit is known to exist, which raises the urgency of patching considerably. Record sourced from NVD.

References

talosintelligence.com
talosintelligence.com
www.talosintelligence.com

Other advisories for this package

open-babel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow) in other software:

CVE-2022-46289 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity CRITICAL
CVSS Score 9.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE CWE-122
Public Exploit ⚠️ Yes
Source NVD
Published 2023-07-21
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-06-17
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
open-babel — —
openbabel — 3.2.0

Similar Threats

Exploit Protection

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CVE-2022-46289 carries CVSS 9.8 Critical rating and a public exploit already exists. BotEraser checks your installation against this and other known CVE records, and blocks IPs associated with exploit activity.

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