# CVE-2025-10998: Open Babel NULL pointer dereference in ChemKinFormat parser

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-10998-open-babel-null-pointer-dereference-in-chemkinformat-parser  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-07-01. Updated: 2026-07-01  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2025-10998 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.5 · Published 2026-07-01

Open Babel, a widely used chemistry data toolkit, is vulnerable to a crash when processing specially crafted ChemKin files. If a user or automated service opens a malicious file using this library, the application will terminate unexpectedly. This can lead to a denial-of-service, impacting the availability of research tools and chemistry-related web services.

Technologies: [openbabel (PyPI)](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/openbabel). Vendors: [PyPI](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/pypi).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2025-10998 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2025-10998 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2025-10998?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.5, 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-2025-10998?** 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-2025-10998 attacked?** It is attacked with local access, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2025-10998?** 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

  ```sh
  pip install "openbabel>=3.2.0"
  ```


## Technical details

A NULL pointer dereference exists in the ChemKinFormat::ReadReactionQualifierLines function within src/formats/chemkinformat.cpp. The vulnerability is triggered when the parser encounters a malformed reaction qualifier record in a ChemKin file. An attacker can exploit this by providing a crafted file to the obabel CLI tool, the OBConversion API, or any of its language bindings (Python, Java, etc.). Successful exploitation results in a process crash (denial-of-service). The issue was identified via OSS-Fuzz and is addressed in version 3.2.0.

## Affected products

- Open Babel openbabel <= 3.1.1

## Identifiers

- CVE-2025-10998
- GHSA-j9pp-7wfg-q7fj
- PYSEC-2026-2782

## Timeline

- 2025-09-14: other: Issue reported on GitHub
- 2026-05-26: patched: Version 3.2.0 released
- 2026-07-01: advisory: GitHub Advisory published

## References

- [https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/security/advisories/GHSA-j9pp-7wfg-q7fj](https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/security/advisories/GHSA-j9pp-7wfg-q7fj)
- [https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/issues/2829](https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/issues/2829)
- [https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/commit/af4a4212](https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel/commit/af4a4212)
- [https://github.com/user-attachments/files/22318526/poc.zip](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/22318526/poc.zip)
- [https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.325926](https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.325926)

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