Critical severity · published Mar 18, 2026
CVE-2026-31966
HTSlib CRAM reader has out-of-bounds read due to improper validation of input
9.1
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data. As one method of removing redundant data, CRAM uses reference-based compression so that instead of storing the full sequence for each alignment record it stores a location in an external reference sequence along with a list of differences to the reference at that location as a sequence of "features". When decoding CRAM records, the reference data is stored in a char array, and parts matching the alignment record sequence are copied over as necessary. Due to insufficient validation of the feature data series, it was possible to make the `cram_decode_seq()` function copy data from either before the start, or after the end of the stored reference either into the buffer used to store the output sequence for the cram record, or into the buffer used to build the SAM `MD` tag. This allowed arbitrary data to be leaked to the calling function. This bug may allow information about program state to be leaked. It may also cause a program crash through an attempt to access invalid memory. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 45% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
HT
htslib · samtools
< 1.21.1; >= 1.22, < 1.22.2; = 1.23 · source: vendor, NVD
Affected product
HT
htslib
samtools
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