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How CVE-2025-10997 Works
Open Babel is a C++ library and command-line tool used to convert and manipulate chemical file formats. It is widely shipped with Linux distributions and embedded in various services that parse chemistry data. A memory-safety vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-10997, exists in its ChemKin format parser.
The flaw resides in the `ChemKinFormat::CheckSpecies` function, located in the source file /src/formats/chemkinformat.cpp. This function is responsible for parsing species records within a ChemKin file. When processing a malformed or specially crafted species record, the parser fails to correctly validate the size of the input data before writing it to a heap-allocated buffer.
This lack of proper bounds checking allows an attacker to write data past the end of the allocated memory region, leading to a heap-based buffer overflow. The overflow can corrupt adjacent heap metadata or other important data structures in memory, potentially leading to application crashes, denial of service, or, under certain conditions, arbitrary code execution.
The attack vector is local, meaning an attacker must trick a victim into opening a malicious ChemKin file. This can be done through the `obabel` command-line tool, the `OBConversion` API, or via any of the language bindings (Python, Ruby, Java, R, Perl, C, PHP). The vulnerability affects all Open Babel releases up to and including version 3.1.1. It was reported via OSS-Fuzz, and the exploit has been made public. The issue was fixed in version 3.2.0, released on 2026-05-26, with the patch commit openbabel/openbabel@af4a4212.
DailyCVE Form
Platform: ……. Open Babel
Version: …….. 3.1.1 and earlier
Vulnerability :…… Heap Buffer Overflow
Severity: ……. Medium (CVSS 5.3)
date: ………. 2026-05-26
Prediction: ….. 2026-05-26 (Patched)
What Undercode Say
A review of the fix and related discussions reveals the technical details of the vulnerability and its resolution.
– Root Cause Analysis: The heap buffer overflow in `ChemKinFormat::CheckSpecies` is a classic example of a missing bounds check. The parser does not verify that the size of the incoming data for a species record fits within the allocated buffer before performing a write operation. This is a memory corruption issue categorized under CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow.
– Verification and Testing: A minimized reproducer for this CVE has been checked into the project’s test suite under test/files/fuzz_regress/. This test case is automatically executed on every Continuous Integration (CI) build with AddressSanitizer (ASAN) and UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer (UBSAN) enabled, ensuring the vulnerability is detected and prevented from being reintroduced.
Exploit
To trigger the vulnerability, an attacker can create a maliciously crafted ChemKin file. When this file is parsed by the vulnerable `CheckSpecies` function, it causes a heap overflow.
While a public proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit is available, a general approach to testing or exploiting this issue involves using a fuzzing harness. The project itself uses a fuzzing regression test to verify the fix. A basic example of using the `obabel` tool to parse a potentially malicious file is:
obabel malicious.chemkin -O output.mol
This command, when run against a vulnerable version (<=3.1.1) with a crafted `malicious.chemkin` file, could trigger the heap buffer overflow. Security researchers and developers can use tools like ASAN to observe the overflow in action during debugging.
Protection
The primary and definitive protection against CVE-2025-10997 is to upgrade Open Babel to version 3.2.0 or later, which contains the patch.
– Upgrade: Update the Open Babel package using your system’s package manager. For example, on Debian-based systems, the fixed version may be available in the experimental repository.
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install openbabel
– Apply Patch: If upgrading is not immediately possible, the specific patch can be applied manually. The fix is consolidated in pull request 2913 and is available in the commit openbabel/openbabel@af4a4212.
– Input Validation: As a general security practice, avoid opening ChemKin files from untrusted or unknown sources.
– Mitigation: While not a fix, running the `obabel` tool or any application using the Open Babel library with tools like ASAN can help detect the overflow during testing and development.
Impact
- Confidentiality: A successful exploit could lead to a limited disclosure of information.
- Integrity: The vulnerability could allow an attacker to corrupt data, potentially modifying application state or files.
- Availability: The most likely impact is a denial of service, where the application crashes due to memory corruption. In more severe scenarios, arbitrary code execution might be possible, giving the attacker control over the affected system.
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Sources:
Reported By: github.com
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