---
id: CVE-2026-46344
title: >-
  liboqs is a C-language cryptographic library that provides implementations of
  post-quantum cryptography algorithms
summary: >-
  liboqs is a C-language cryptographic library that provides implementations of
  post-quantum cryptography algorithms. Prior to 0.16.0, an out-of-bounds read
  has been identified in the XMSS and XMSS^MT stateful signature verification
  code. …
severity: medium
cvss: 5.3
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'
cwe:
  - CWE-125
vendor: openquantumsafe
product: liboqs
affected:
  - liboqs <= 0.15.0
published: '2026-05-29'
updated: '2026-07-22'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46344'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/commit/077e32a94f39af02209dbbc680bf8a43b774b305
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/security/advisories/GHSA-2wxh-55qf-c7wg
    label: security-advisories@github.com
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00418
epssPercentile: 0.33461
ingestedAt: '2026-07-22T21:06:23.672Z'
---

## Overview

liboqs is a C-language cryptographic library that provides implementations of post-quantum cryptography algorithms. Prior to 0.16.0, an out-of-bounds read has been identified in the XMSS and XMSS^MT stateful signature verification code. When the verification function is called with a correctly-sized signature buffer for the declared algorithm but a public key whose OID bytes (pk[0..3]) reference a different XMSS parameter set with a larger sig_bytes, the implementation re-parses the OID from the public key inside xmss_sign_open / xmssmt_sign_open and uses the resulting (larger) sig_bytes to index the caller-supplied signature buffer. As with CVE-2026-44518, the out-of-bounds bytes are consumed only as input to an internal hash computation and are not returned to the caller, so no oracle exists to leak their contents to an attacker. The primary observable effect is a possible crash (denial of service) of the verifying process if the read crosses into an unmapped memory page. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.16.0.

## Affected

- `liboqs <= 0.15.0`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.