🛡️ CVE-2025-10998 — open-babel

🟢 CVSS 3.3 — Low ⚠️ Exploit Public CWE-404 NVD
3.3
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

Open Babel has NULL pointer dereference in ChemKinFormat::ReadReactionQualifierLines

Summary

A memory-safety vulnerability in Open Babel's ChemKin parser caused

a NULL pointer dereference when reading a crafted input file.

Details

The flaw was in ChemKinFormat::ReadReactionQualifierLines. A

malformed reaction qualifier record caused the parser to dereference

a NULL pointer.

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 ChemKin 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/af4a4212

Originally reported as #2829; 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.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability low.

Weakness class

CVE-2025-10998 is classified as CWE-404: Improper Resource Shutdown or Release. A resource is not released correctly after use, leaving it locked, leaked or in an inconsistent state.

Affected software

CVE-2025-10998 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • open-babel (fixed in 3.1.1)
  • openbabel (fixed in 3.2.0)

Timeline and source

Published on 26 September 2025 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

github.com
github.com
vuldb.com
vuldb.com
vuldb.com

CVE-2025-10998 on other distributions

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

Details

Severity LOW
CVSS Score 3.3
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
CWE CWE-404
Public Exploit ⚠️ Yes
Source NVD
Published 2025-09-26
Updated 2026-08-12
Modified 2026-06-17
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
open-babel — 3.1.1
openbabel — 3.2.0

References

Permissions Required, VDB Entry https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.325926
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry https://vuldb.com/?id.325926
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry https://vuldb.com/?submit.654063

Similar Threats

Exploit Protection

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