Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessCraft malformed WAV fmt chunk
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DeliveryDeliver file to victim/service
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ExploitVictim opens file with libsndfile
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ExecutionUnaligned 4-byte store faults
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ImpactProcess crash (DoS)
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Heap buffer bounds checking
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires the victim to open or process an attacker-supplied, specially crafted WAV file with libsndfile 1.2.2 (UI:R, AV:L - the file must be delivered to and parsed on the target). The unaligned 4-byte store in psf_binheader_readf() reliably faults primarily on strict-alignment CPU architectures (ARM, SPARC, MIPS, and UBSan-instrumented builds); on x86/x86-64 the misaligned access is typically tolerated and may not crash, which materially limits real-world impact. No authentication or special server configuration is needed, but exploitation is bounded to a single-process denial of service - no code execution, data disclosure, or integrity impact. |
| Impact | All signals converge on this being a LOW real-world priority despite the 5.5 (medium) CVSS. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) confirms local attack vector with required user interaction and pure availability impact - no confidentiality or integrity loss. EPSS is negligible at 0.14% (3rd percentile), there is no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit was identified at time of analysis. The only meaningful outcome is a crash (denial of service) of whatever process links libsndfile and opens the malicious WAV. Two caveats worth stating explicitly: (1) the A:H rating is generous - the impact is a single-process crash on file open, not a service-wide outage, so A:L is defensible; and (2) the 'undefined behavior' primarily manifests as a fault (e.g. SIGBUS) on strict-alignment architectures (ARM, SPARC, MIPS) - on x86/x86-64 the unaligned store is typically tolerated and may not crash at all, so real-world DoS is architecture-dependent. This is a robustness/UB hardening fix, not a memory-corruption exploitation primitive. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker crafts a malformed WAV file whose fmt chunk drives psf_binheader_readf() to store a 4-byte value through an unaligned destination pointer, and delivers it to a victim (email attachment, download, media upload pipeline). When the victim's application or service parses the file with libsndfile 1.2.2 on a strict-alignment platform, the misaligned store faults and the process crashes. No public exploit code was identified; the underlying flaw is undefined behavior yielding a crash rather than code execution. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 25, 2026
Opening a specially crafted WAV file with libsndfile 1.2.2 can cause a denial of service when the library's header parser performs an unaligned 4-byte store through a cast unsigned int pointer, which faults on strict-alignment CPU architectures. The flaw is reachable by remote attackers who can get a victim to process the malicious file, but requires user interaction and results in single-process crash only, with no code execution, data disclosure, or integrity impact. There is no public exploit code and no evidence of active exploitation; EPSS is 0.14% (3rd percentile) and the CVE is not in CISA KEV, so despite the medium 5.5 CVSS score this is a low real-world priority. Additionally, because x86/x86-64 tolerates misaligned access, the crash is largely limited to ARM, SPARC, MIPS and sanitizer-instrumented builds.
RemediationAI
No vendor-tagged libsndfile release containing the fix is confirmed in the available data; the specific fix is the upstream commit https://github.com/mhlavink/libsndfileci/commit/474e4d328b1e6240b93ec6ed14efb7c6a44bee57, which converts all multi-byte stores in psf_binheader_readf() to memcpy-based helpers (store_uint, store_ushort, store_count, store_float, store_double) and routes header reads through a local sixteen_bytes buffer. Distro maintainers and integrators should backport that commit or apply it directly and rebuild; since the released-version status is not independently confirmed, verify the patched artifact before relying on it. If patching is not immediately possible, the most effective compensating control is to run untrusted audio processing inside an isolated, restartable per-file worker process (container, seccomp/AppArmor-confined helper, or a crash-supervised subprocess) so a fault kills only that worker - a moderate engineering cost that does not change parsing behavior; alternatively, restrict or disable WAV ingestion at the service boundary (accept only trusted/known-good uploads or pre-convert to a validated format), which removes the attack path but reduces functionality, or compile with alignment sanitizers to detect the condition, which adds overhead and is diagnostic rather than preventive. Note that the fault is architecture-dependent, so x86/x86-64 hosts may not exhibit a crash even with vulnerable code, while ARM, SPARC, MIPS and sanitizer-instrumented builds remain at risk; full advisory context is at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-88386 and https://github.com/libsndfile/libsndfile/issues/1150.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
libsndfile's psf_binheader_readf() is the generic binary header parser that reads WAV/RIFF chunk fields (fmt, data, etc.) into caller-provided destination variables via a printf-style format string. The destination fields live inside packed on-disk header structs, so their addresses are not guaranteed to be naturally aligned; the code cast those addresses directly to unsigned int *, short *, float * and sf_count_t * and stored through them. Per the upstream fix commit, the root cause is this cast-and-store pattern, which is undefined behavior and raises a hardware alignment fault on strict-alignment targets when a 4-byte store lands on an unaligned address. The CVE is tagged CWE-122 (heap-based buffer overflow) with tags Buffer Overflow, Heap Overflow and Denial Of Service, but the code diff and description make clear the practical manifestation is an unaligned memory access (SBSP/EUVD tracking also records this as a DoS-class issue rather than a memory-corruption primitive). Affected code is in src/common.c, and the fix replaces every multi-byte store with memcpy-based store_uint/store_ushort/store_count/store_float/store_double helpers plus a local sixteen_bytes buffer, eliminating the unaligned access. No meaningful CPE string was supplied (n/a:n/a), so scoping must rely on the version field: libsndfile 1.2.2.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Malicious file must be opened locally (AV:L, UI:R); no auth needed (PR:N); pure crash so C:N/I:N/A:H, though A:L is defensible given single-process, architecture-dependent impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (mitre).
CVSS VectorVendor: mitre
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
libsndfile 1.2.2 contains a misaligned memory access issue in psf_binheader_readf() while parsing WAV fmt chunks. A specially crafted WAV file can cause the function to cast an unaligned destination address to unsigned int * and perform a 4-byte store. This results in undefined behavior leading to denial of service.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
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View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: Moderate| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP7 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 6 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP6 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP6 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Sale 12 SP2-CLIENT | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-BCL | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-BCL | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-ESPOS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-BCL | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-BCL | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-BCL | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15-LTSS | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP4 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.0 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy LTS 4.3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.0 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server LTS 4.3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.0 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.1 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.2 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server LTS 4.3 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud 7 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud 8 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud 9 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 | Not-Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.3 | Not-Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Not-Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Not-Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Not-Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for NVIDIA 16.1 | Affected |
EUVD-2026-86472
GHSA-x44m-83p2-j4h6
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Exploit-DB