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.
References (3)
Scores
CVSS v3
7.5
EPSS
0.0002
EPSS Percentile
5.0%
Attack Vector
NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CISA SSVC
Vulnrichment
Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical Impact
partial
Details
CWE
CWE-476
Status
published
Products (5)
samtools/samtools
1.23
samtools/samtools
1.17 - 1.21.1
samtools/samtools
= 1.23
samtools/samtools
>= 1.17, < 1.21.1
samtools/samtools
>= 1.22, < 1.22.2
Published
Mar 18, 2026
Tracked Since
Mar 19, 2026