How severe is CVE-2025-10996?

No CVSS score has been assigned to CVE-2025-10996 yet. Review the advisory details and affected package list to assess your exposure.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2025-10996?

CVE-2025-10996 affects the following packages: openbabel (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2025-10996?

Update openbabel to 3.2.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-10996 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2025-10996 in my PyPI dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openbabel, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2025-10996 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Stop feeding it untrusted input: reject or quarantine files and payloads from unverified sources until you can upgrade, restrict accepted formats to the ones you actually need, and run the parsing or decoding step in a least-privileged sandbox or short-lived worker so a crash or corrupted read cannot reach the rest of the process.

Is CVE-2025-10996 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2025-10996 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2025-10996?

CVE-2025-10996 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.3%, placing it in the 18th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2025-10996?

CVE-2025-10996 is classified as Buffer Overflow (CWE-119), CWE-122 (CWE-122). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2025-10996 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2025-10996 was published on September 26, 2025 and was last updated on August 12, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍 PyPI

Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2025-10996 — openbabel

Fix: openbabel/openbabel#2913

CVE-2025-10996 is a Buffer Overflow vulnerability in openbabel. A fix is available for openbabel — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Open Babel smilesformat.cpp ParseSmiles heap-based overflow

Also known asGHSA-j35x-w4gj-pf7wPYSEC-2026-2781

Published

Sep 26, 2025

Updated

Aug 12, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Sep 27, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Proof-of-concept exploit code exists

CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-10996.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs18th percentile — riskier than 18% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐍openbabel

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Summary

A memory-safety vulnerability in Open Babel's SMILES parser caused a heap buffer overflow when reading a crafted input string.

Details

The flaw was in OBSmilesParser::ParseSmiles. A malformed SMILES input caused the parser to write past the end of a heap-allocated buffer.

Impact

Open Babel is a C++ library and CLI used to read and write chemistry file formats; it is shipped by Linux distributions and embedded in services that may parse untrusted input. Triggering this vulnerability requires the victim to parse a malicious SMILES string with the obabel tool, the OBConversion API, or any of the language bindings (Python, Ruby, Java, R, Perl, C#, PHP). SMILES strings are commonly passed on the command line and through scripted pipelines, so this primitive is especially reachable.

Affected versions

All releases up to and including 3.1.1.

Patched version

3.2.0 (released 2026-05-26).

Patch

Fix commit: https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/commit/b34cd604 Originally reported as #2831; fixes consolidated in #2913.

A minimized reproducer for this CVE is checked in under test/files/fuzz_regress/ and is exercised on every CI build under ASAN+UBSAN by the fuzzregresstest harness.

Credit

Reported via OSS-Fuzz.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`openbabel`	all versions	3.2.0`pip install --upgrade 'openbabel==3.2.0'`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

open babelopenbabel

≤ 3.1.1

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openbabel, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update openbabel to 3.2.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-10996 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop feeding it untrusted input: reject or quarantine files and payloads from unverified sources until you can upgrade, restrict accepted formats to the ones you actually need, and run the parsing or decoding step in a least-privileged sandbox or short-lived worker so a crash or corrupted read cannot reach the rest of the process.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Summary A memory-safety vulnerability in Open Babel's SMILES parser caused a heap buffer overflow when reading a crafted input string. ### Details The flaw was in `OBSmilesParser::ParseSmiles`. A malformed SMILES input caused the parser to write past the end of a heap-allocated buffer. ### Impact Open Babel is a C++ library and CLI used to read and write chemistry file formats; it is shipped by Linux distributions and embedded in services that may parse untrusted input. Triggering this vulnerability requires the victim to parse a malicious SMILES string with the `obabel` tool, the `OB

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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