Process crash via OID-controlled signature-buffer overread
Published May 29, 2026 · Updated May 29, 2026
Out-of-bounds read in XMSS verification in Open Quantum Safe liboqs before 0.16.0 allows remote attackers to crash verifying processes. The XMSS and XMSS^MT wrappers accept a signature length for the declared variant, but xmss_sign_open and xmssmt_sign_open reparse an untrusted public-key OID and use its larger sig_bytes value to index that signature buffer. Reachability requires an application to verify a signature with an untrusted or tampered public key; the overread feeds only an internal hash and can crash the process if it reaches an unmapped page, without disclosing data or accepting an invalid signature.
Summary
What happened
Out-of-bounds read in XMSS verification in Open Quantum Safe liboqs before 0.16.0 allows remote attackers to crash verifying processes. The XMSS and XMSS^MT wrappers accept a signature length for the declared variant, but xmss_sign_open and xmssmt_sign_open reparse an untrusted public-key OID and use its larger sig_bytes value to index that signature buffer. Reachability requires an application to verify a signature with an untrusted or tampered public key; the overread feeds only an internal hash and can crash the process if it reaches an unmapped page, without disclosing data or accepting an invalid signature.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-46344
- Published
- May 29, 2026
- Updated
- May 29, 2026
- Vendor
- Open Quantum Safe
- Product
- liboqs
- Classifications
- CWE-125, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 29, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 29, 2026Record 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=< 0.16.0
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
- OID-mismatch XMSS verification regression testproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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