Memory corruption via malformed ChemKin species record
Published Sep 26, 2025 · Updated Sep 26, 2025
Heap buffer overflow in the ChemKin parser in Open Babel 3.1.1 and earlier allows context-dependent attackers to corrupt memory via crafted files. A malformed species record causes ChemKinFormat::CheckSpecies to access beyond a heap-allocated buffer while looking up the species key. Exploitation requires a user or embedding service to process the file through obabel, OBConversion, or a language binding; the demonstrated result is an ASan-detected crash.
Summary
What happened
Heap buffer overflow in the ChemKin parser in Open Babel 3.1.1 and earlier allows context-dependent attackers to corrupt memory via crafted files. A malformed species record causes ChemKinFormat::CheckSpecies to access beyond a heap-allocated buffer while looking up the species key. Exploitation requires a user or embedding service to process the file through obabel, OBConversion, or a language binding; the demonstrated result is an ASan-detected crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-10997
- Published
- Sep 26, 2025
- Updated
- Sep 26, 2025
- Vendor
- Open Babel
- Product
- Open Babel
- Classifications
- CWE-119, CWE-122, T1203
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 26, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 26, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=3.1.0
- Affected versionversion=3.1.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- ChemKinFormat::CheckSpecies proof-of-concept fileproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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