CVE-2026-120756 PUBLISHED

Heap Buffer Over-read via Malformed Message Size in HDF5's H5O__chunk_deserialize

Assigner: HDFG
Reserved: 02.11.2026 Published: 03.11.2026 Updated: 03.11.2026

HDF5 through 2.2.0 contains a heap buffer over-read vulnerability in H5O__chunk_deserialize() in src/H5Ocache.c. When decoding object header messages, the declared message size is checked against the end of the chunk image before the remainder of the message header (flags, and for version 2 object headers, the optional creation index) has been decoded. Because the message body begins after these fields, a message can start up to four bytes further into the chunk than the size check accounts for. A crafted HDF5 file can declare a message size that passes the check but extends past the end of the chunk image, causing the message’s decode callback, for example H5O__mtime_new_decode() in src/H5Omtime.c, to read beyond the heap allocation. The flaw is reachable during H5Fopen() on a crafted file. An attacker who can get a user or application to open a malicious file can cause a denial of service or limited disclosure of process memory.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
CVSS Score: 1.9

Product Status

Vendor The HDF Group
Product HDF5
Versions Default: unaffected
  • Version < 2.3.0 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-125 Out-of-bounds read CWE

Impacts

  • CAPEC-540 Overread Buffers