Description
SAMtools is a program for reading, manipulating and writing bioinformatics file formats. Starting in version 1.17, in the cram-size command, used to write information about how well CRAM files are compressed, a check to see if the `cram_decode_compression_header()` was missing. If the function returned an error, this could lead to a NULL pointer dereference. Exploiting this bug causes a NULL pointer dereference. Typically this will cause the program to crash. Versions 1.23.1, 1.22.2 and 1.21.1 include fixes for this issue. There is no workaround for this issue.
Problem types
CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
Product status
>= 1.22, < 1.22.2
= 1.23
References
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/18/12
github.com/...mtools/security/advisories/GHSA-x86f-q6fj-cm43
github.com/...ommit/06fc2a219b3d7c94d3f412c09f6d1efd51199f2f