---
id: CVE-2022-46292
aliases:
  - GHSA-55f6-pf8r-c2f4
title: >-
  Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in MOPAC translationVectors[] (UNIT CELL
  TRANSLATION)
summary: >-
  Open Babel has out-of-bounds write in MOPAC translationVectors[] (UNIT CELL
  TRANSLATION)
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cwe:
  - CWE-119
  - CWE-787
vendor: openbabel
product: openbabel
ecosystem: pip
affected:
  - openbabel < 3.2.0
patched:
  - openbabel 3.2.0
published: '2026-07-06'
updated: '2026-07-06'
source: GHSA
sourceUrl: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-55f6-pf8r-c2f4'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/security/advisories/GHSA-55f6-pf8r-c2f4
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-46292'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/commit/40e852138f21d586b7ccdce6329e7b23a87168bb
  - url: 'https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2022-1666'
  - url: 'https://www.talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2022-1666'
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-55f6-pf8r-c2f4'
tags:
  - ghsa
  - pip
epss: 0.00804
epssPercentile: 0.54739
ingestedAt: '2026-07-06T16:44:34.530Z'
---

## Overview

### Summary

A memory-safety vulnerability in Open Babel's MOPAC output parser
allowed an out-of-bounds write into the `translationVectors[]` array
when reading the "UNIT CELL TRANSLATION" block of a crafted input
file.

### Details

The MOPAC output reader stored translation vectors from the UNIT CELL
TRANSLATION block into a fixed-size `translationVectors[]` array. A
malformed block could push more vectors than the array had slots,
causing a write past the end of the array. One of five
`translationVectors[]` OOB writes in the TALOS 2022 batch.

### 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 open a malicious MOPAC output file with the
`obabel` tool, the `OBConversion` API, or any of the language
bindings (Python, Ruby, Java, R, Perl, C#, PHP).

### 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/40e85213

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 by Cisco TALOS.

## Affected packages

- `openbabel < 3.2.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

- `openbabel 3.2.0`