CVE-2026-120689

NameCVE-2026-120689
DescriptionHDF5 through 2.2.0 contains an uncontrolled recursion vulnerability in H5B__iterate_helper() in src/H5B.c. When iterating a version 1 B-tree, the function does not verify that a child node’s level matches the expected level. That check is performed only in H5B__cache_deserialize() when a node is first loaded into the metadata cache. A crafted HDF5 file whose B-tree child pointer refers back to a node already in the cache, such as a node that points to itself, bypasses the check and causes unbounded recursion, leading to stack exhaustion and a crash. This can be triggered by calling H5Gget_info() or H5Gget_num_objs() on a group in the crafted file, which reaches H5B_iterate() through H5G__obj_info() and H5G__stab_count(). An attacker who can get a user or application to open a malicious file can cause a denial of service.
SourceCVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source PackageReleaseVersionStatus
hdf5 (PTS)bookworm1.10.8+repack1-1vulnerable
trixie1.14.5+repack-3vulnerable
forky2.2.0+repack-5vulnerable
sid2.2.0+repack-6vulnerable

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

PackageTypeReleaseFixed VersionUrgencyOriginDebian Bugs
hdf5source(unstable)(unfixed)unimportant

Notes

https://github.com/HDFGroup/hdf5/issues/6403
HDF not covered by security support, see https://bugs.debian.org/1117722

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