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CVE-2026-2704

CVE-2026-2704: Open Babel has an out-of-bounds read in CIF transform3d::DescribeAsString

Summary

A memory-safety vulnerability in Open Babel's CIF file format parser allowed an out-of-bounds read when reading a crafted input file.

Details

The flaw was in OpenBabel::transform3d::DescribeAsString. A malformed symmetry-operation string caused the parser to read past the end of its internal buffer while formatting the description.

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 CIF file with the obabel tool, the OBConversion API, or any of the language bindings.

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/e23a224b Tracked in #2862.

A minimized reproducer for this CVE is checked in at test/files/fuzz_regress/cve-2026-2704.cif and is exercised on every CI build under ASAN+UBSAN by the fuzzregresstest harness.

Credit

Reported by Vedant Madane (@VedantMadane).

(GitHub Advisory)

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CVE-2026-2704

CVE-2026-2704:

2.1

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Technical Details

SSVC / BOD 26-04 ↗

Exploitation NoneAutomatable NoTech Impact Partial

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Package Name	Ecosystem	Vulnerable Versions	First Patched Version
openbabel	pip	< 3.2.0	3.2.0

Technical Details

Vulnerability Intelligence
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Root Cause Analysis

The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2026-2704, is an out-of-bounds read in the OpenBabel::transform3d::DescribeAsString function. The analysis of the fixing commit e23a224b confirms this. The patch applied to src/math/transform3d.cpp introduces a boundary check j < 3 in a while loop. Before the patch, the loop while ((*m)(i, j) == 0.) would continuously increment the column index j if it only encountered zero values in a row of the matrix m. Since m is a 3x3 matrix, if a row consisted entirely of zeros, j could be incremented to 3, leading to an out-of-bounds read at (*m)(i, 3). The patch prevents this by ensuring j does not exceed the valid bounds of the matrix. Therefore, the function OpenBabel::transform3d::DescribeAsString is the vulnerable function that would appear in a runtime profile during exploitation.

Vulnerable functions

OpenBabel::transform3d::DescribeAsString

src/math/transform3d.cpp

The vulnerability exists in the `DescribeAsString` function within the `transform3d` class. The code iterates through a 3x3 matrix `m`. The `while` loop that searches for a non-zero element in each row did not have a bounds check for the column index `j`. If a row contained all zeros, `j` would be incremented beyond the valid index range [0, 2], causing an out-of-bounds read when accessing `(*m)(i, j)`.

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WAF Protection Rules

WAF Rule

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Reasoning

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2.1

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CVE-2026-2704: Open Babel has an out-of-bounds read in CIF transform3d::DescribeAsString

Summary

Details

Impact

Affected versions

Patched version

Patch

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CVE-2026-2704:

2.1

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Technical Details

Technical Details

Vulnerability IntelligenceMiggo AI

Root Cause Analysis

Vulnerable functions

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Technical Details

2.1

2.1

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Root Cause Analysis

Vulnerable functions

CVE-2026-2704: Open Babel has an out-of-bounds read in CIF transform3d::DescribeAsString

Summary

Details

Impact

Affected versions

Patched version

Patch

Credit

Vulnerability Intelligence
Miggo AI

Vulnerability Intelligence
Miggo AI

Vulnerability Intelligence
Miggo AI