---
id: CVE-2025-10998
title: >-
  Open Babel has NULL pointer dereference in
  ChemKinFormat::ReadReactionQualifierLines
summary: >-
  Open Babel has NULL pointer dereference in
  ChemKinFormat::ReadReactionQualifierLines
severity: low
cvss: 5.5
cwe:
  - CWE-404
  - CWE-476
vendor: openbabel
product: openbabel
ecosystem: pip
affected:
  - openbabel < 3.2.0
patched:
  - openbabel 3.2.0
published: '2026-07-01'
updated: '2026-07-01'
source: GHSA
sourceUrl: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-j9pp-7wfg-q7fj'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/security/advisories/GHSA-j9pp-7wfg-q7fj
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-10998'
  - url: 'https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/issues/2829'
  - url: 'https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/commit/af4a4212'
  - url: 'https://github.com/user-attachments/files/22318526/poc.zip'
  - url: 'https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.325926'
  - url: 'https://vuldb.com/?id.325926'
  - url: 'https://vuldb.com/?submit.654063'
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-j9pp-7wfg-q7fj'
tags:
  - ghsa
  - pip
epss: 0.00206
epssPercentile: 0.09402
ingestedAt: '2026-07-01T18:15:20.593Z'
---

## Overview

### Summary

A memory-safety vulnerability in Open Babel's ChemKin parser caused
a NULL pointer dereference when reading a crafted input file.

### Details

The flaw was in `ChemKinFormat::ReadReactionQualifierLines`. A
malformed reaction qualifier record caused the parser to dereference
a NULL pointer.

### 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 ChemKin 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/af4a4212
Originally reported as #2829; 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

- `openbabel < 3.2.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

- `openbabel 3.2.0`