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Open BabelApplication · Openbabel

CVE-2022-46280

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-21
No fix yet
No fix has been published. The vendor has not shipped a fixed release or patch. You remain exposed.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
Public exploit No privileges

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
A use of uninitialized pointer vulnerability exists in the PQS format pFormat functionality of Open Babel 3.1.1 and master commit 530dbfa3. A specially crafted malformed file can lead to arbitrary code execution. An attacker can provide a malicious file to trigger this vulnerability.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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
Open BabelApplication
Affected:= 3.1.1

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

dbcve · scoped
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Open Babel 3.2.0 or later (or 3.1.1.1 patch release if available)

  1. 1. Identify the current Open Babel version by running 'obabel -V' or checking your package manager
  2. 2. Backup any existing Open Babel installations and important configuration files
  3. 3. Download Open Babel version 3.2.0 or later from the official GitHub releases: https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/releases
  4. 4. For source compilation: clone the repository and checkout tag v3.2.0 or later, then compile with standard build tools
  5. 5. For package managers: update your package repository and install the newer version (e.g., 'apt-get update && apt-get install openbabel3' or equivalent for your system)
  6. 6. Verify the installation by running 'obabel -V' and confirm the version is 3.2.0 or higher
  7. 7. Test that your workflows still function correctly with the new version
  8. 8. Re-scan or re-process any previously untrusted PQS format files to ensure they are handled safely by the updated parser
Caveat Minor: Some legacy format parsing behaviors may have subtle changes; test critical workflows before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

No vendor fix exists Open Babel has not published a patch for this.

There is no version to upgrade to and no patch to apply. Every affected install stays exposed until the vendor ships a fix — or somebody else builds one.

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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-2022-46280 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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