CVE-2022-46290: Open Babel heap buffer overflow in ORCA nAtoms parser

CVE-2022-46290 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.8 · Published 2026-07-01

Open Babel, a widely used library for processing chemistry file formats, contains a memory safety flaw in its ORCA file parser. An attacker could provide a specially crafted chemistry file that, when opened by a user or processed by a service using this library, could lead to unauthorized code execution or system crashes. This affects various applications and web services that rely on Open Babel to convert or view molecular data.

Technologies: openbabel (PyPI). Vendors: PyPI.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2022-46290 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2022-46290 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2022-46290?
High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.8, published 1 July 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?
openbabel (PyPI) < 3.2.0, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=3.2.0.
Is there a fix for CVE-2022-46290?
Yes. openbabel (PyPI): upgrade to 3.2.0 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2022-46290 attacked?
It is attacked with local access, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2022-46290?
Check whether you run openbabel (PyPI) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

  • openbabel (PyPI): upgrade to 3.2.0 or later
    pip install "openbabel>=3.2.0"

Technical details

An out-of-bounds write vulnerability (CWE-787/CWE-122) exists in Open Babel's ORCA format parser within the 'nAtoms' functionality. The vulnerability occurs in 'formats/orcaformat.cpp' where the parser reads the number of atoms from a file and subsequently fills a coordinate buffer without verifying that the input index remains within the allocated bounds of the 'nAtoms' variable. An attacker can trigger this by providing a malformed ORCA file with a mismatched atom count and coordinate list. The exploit requires local user interaction (opening a file) or a service that processes untrusted ORCA files. The issue is patched in version 3.2.0.

Affected products

  • Open Babel Open Babel <= 3.1.1

Identifiers

  • CVE-2022-46290
  • GHSA-5rff-8f7c-8jmw
  • PYSEC-2026-2773

Timeline

  • 2023-07-21: disclosed: Initial report by Cisco Talos
  • 2026-05-26: patched: Version 3.2.0 released
  • 2026-07-01: advisory: GitHub Advisory published

References

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