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HtslibApplication

CVE-2018-13845

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-07-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An issue has been found in HTSlib 1.8. It is a buffer over-read in sam_parse1 in sam.c.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A buffer over-read vulnerability exists in HTSlib 1.8 within the sam_parse1 function in sam.c. This function parses SAM (Sequence Alignment/Map) format files used in bioinformatics. The buffer over-read could allow attackers to read beyond allocated memory boundaries when processing specially crafted SAM files.

MitigationUpgrade HTSlib to a patched version when available. Until then, exercise extreme caution when processing SAM/BAM files from untrusted sources, as the vulnerability can be triggered during file parsing.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
HtslibApplication
Affected:= 1.8

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify HTSlib installation
    Run 'htsversion' or check library version via 'ldconfig -p | grep hts' or check package manager for htslib
    Affected if HTSlib version 1.8 is installed
  2. Identify software using HTSlib
    Search for binaries/libraries linked against libhts (e.g., 'ldd /path/to/binary | grep hts' or 'dpkg -l | grep htslib' or 'rpm -qa | grep htslib')
    Affected if Software links to HTSlib version 1.8 library
  3. Confirm SAM file processing capability
    Identify tools that process SAM/BAM files on the system (such as samtools, bcftools, or custom pipelines) and verify they depend on the vulnerable HTSlib version
    Affected if SAM/BAM processing tools are linked to HTSlib 1.8 and are used to parse SAM files

You are affected if HTSlib version 1.8 is installed AND your environment uses tools that parse SAM format files using the sam_parse1 function from this library.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade HTSlib to a patched version when available. Until then, exercise extreme caution when processing SAM/BAM files from untrusted sources, as the vulnerability can be triggered during file parsing.

Fix this in Htslib Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-13845 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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