Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-31967

medium Nessus Plugin ID 302949

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- HTSlib is a library for reading and writing bioinformatics file formats. CRAM is a compressed format which stores DNA sequence alignment data. In the `cram_decode_slice()` function called while reading CRAM records, the value of the mate reference id field was not validated. Later use of this value, for example when converting the data to SAM format, could result in the out of bounds array reads when looking up the corresponding reference name. If the array value obtained also happened to be a valid pointer, it would be interpreted as a string and an attempt would be made to write the data as part of the SAM record. This bug may allow information about program state to be leaked. It may also cause a program crash through an attempt to access invalid memory. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue. (CVE-2026-31967)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-31967

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-31967

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 302949

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_31967.nasl

Version: 1.3

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/18/2026

Updated: 3/20/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.0

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.8

Temporal Score: 4.9

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-31967

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.1

Temporal Score: 8.3

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.9

Threat Score: 2.7

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:htslib, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:htslib, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 3/18/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-31967