CVE-2026-31970CWE-122CWE-1284CWE-131CWE-190CWE-787

HTSlib BGZF index file reader has a heap buffer overflow

High · published March 18, 2026

CVSS v4.0
7.1
EPSS
1%
Percentile
51.1
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. GZI files are used to index block-compressed GZIP [BGZF] files. In the GZI loading function, `bgzf_index_load_hfile()`, it was possible to trigger an integer overflow, leading to an under- or zero-sized buffer being allocated to store the index. Sixteen zero bytes would then be written to this buffer, and, depending on the result of the overflow the rest of the file may also be loaded into the buffer as well. If the function did attempt to load the data, it would eventually fail due to not reading the expected number of records, and then try to free the overflowed heap buffer. Exploiting this bug causes a heap buffer overflow. If a user opens a file crafted to exploit this issue, it could lead to the program crashing, or overwriting of data and heap structures in ways not expected by the program. It may be possible to use this to obtain arbitrary code execution. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. The easiest work-around is to discard any `.gzi` index files from untrusted sources, and use the `bgzip -r` option to recreate them.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v4.0
7.1 · HIGH
Vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
EPSS
0.00662 · 51.1th percentile
Weaknesses
CWE-122 · Heap-based Buffer Overflow; CWE-1284 · Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input; CWE-131 · Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size; CWE-190 · Integer Overflow or Wraparound; CWE-787 · Out-of-bounds Write
Published
2026-03-18T19:53Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 18 MAR 19:53Z
    HTSlib BGZF index file reader has a heap buffer overflow
    cvelistv5