CVE-2026-2704
Published: 19 February 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-2704 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Openbabel Open Babel. Its CVSS base score is 4.3 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Malicious File (T1204.002); ranked at the 11.2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Likely Mitigating ControlsAI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Ongoing control assessments and code testing (static/dynamic analysis, fuzzing) surface memory buffer restriction failures, which are then remediated before release.
Managed runtimes used by platform-independent applications (e.g., JVM, CLR) enforce memory safety, preventing most buffer overflows that require direct memory manipulation.
Memory protections (e.g., W^X, ASLR) make exploitation of buffer-boundary violations far harder to turn into code execution.
Detects exploitation attempts that produce memory corruption, crashes, or anomalous behavior.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vulnerability is triggered when a user processes a malicious CIF file (directly enabling T1204.002 Malicious File for execution) and results in application crash/DoS via out-of-bounds read exploitation (directly enabling T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation).
NVD Description
A security vulnerability has been detected in Open Babel up to 3.1.1. The affected element is the function OpenBabel::transform3d::DescribeAsString of the file src/math/transform3d.cpp of the component CIF File Handler. The manipulation leads to out-of-bounds read. It is possible to initiate…
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the attack remotely. The exploit has been disclosed publicly and may be used. The identifier of the patch is e23a224b8fd9d7c2a7cde9ef4ec6afb4c05aa08a. It is suggested to install a patch to address this issue. The project was informed of the problem early through an issue report but has not responded yet.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-2704 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Open Babel versions up to and including 3.1.1. The issue affects the OpenBabel::transform3d::DescribeAsString function within the src/math/transform3d.cpp file, part of the CIF File Handler component. This flaw, linked to CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer) and CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), was published on 2026-02-19 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L).
The vulnerability can be exploited remotely by unauthenticated attackers with network access who trick a user into processing a malicious CIF file, as it requires user interaction but no privileges. Successful exploitation results in a low-impact denial of service, such as application crashes due to the out-of-bounds read, with no confidentiality or integrity impacts.
Mitigation is available via the patch commit e23a224b8fd9d7c2a7cde9ef4ec6afb4c05aa08a on the Open Babel GitHub repository. A proof-of-concept exploit in the form of a repro.cif file has been publicly disclosed, along with the originating issue report at openbabel/openbabel#2848 and a related pull request at openbabel/openbabel#2862. The project was notified early but has not yet responded. Security practitioners should apply the patch promptly and avoid processing untrusted CIF files in affected versions. Additional details are available at vuldb.com/?ctiid.346650.
Details
- CWE(s)