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CVE-2026-31973

NULL pointer dereference in samtools cram-size

Published: Mar 18, 2026Updated: Mar 19, 2026 Sources: CVE List NVDCWE-476
7.5HIGH
NVD MITRE
EPSS Score
0.5%
Top 59.8%
CISA KEV
Not in KEV
Exploits
No Known Exploits
Remediation
Patch Available

Description

SAMtools is a program for reading, manipulating and writing bioinformatics file formats. Starting in version 1.17, in the cram-size command, used to write information about how well CRAM files are compressed, a check to see if the `cram_decode_compression_header()` was missing. If the function returned an error, this could lead to a NULL pointer dereference. Exploiting this bug causes a NULL pointer dereference. Typically this will cause the program to crash. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.

No summary for this CVE yet.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

AV:NAC:LPR:NUI:NS:UC:NI:NA:H
Exploitability
AV:NAttack Vector
Network
AC:LAttack Complexity
Low
PR:NPrivileges Required
None
UI:NUser Interaction
None
Scope
S:UScope
Unchanged
Impact
C:NConfidentiality
None
I:NIntegrity
None
A:HAvailability
High
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Weaknesses

CWE-476

Affected Products

samtoolssamtools
Library
OSS Libraries / generic-library
samtoolsoss-projectUSOSS Libraries

Exploitability

Official Patch Available
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Attack Graph

Products CVE Techniques Tactics

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MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques
Impact
Initial Access
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References

https://github.com/samtools/samtools/commit/06fc2a219b3d7c94d3f412c09f6d1efd51199f2f
github.com
https://github.com/samtools/samtools/security/advisories/GHSA-x86f-q6fj-cm43
github.com
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/18/12
openwall.com

Timeline

Published
Mar 18, 2026
Last Updated
Mar 19, 2026

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