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OpenAdvisories
Medium · 4.3 CVE-2026-120689 EUVD-2026-115545GHSA-6384-wh38-r9pf

Uncontrolled Recursion in HDF5 H5B__iterate_helper() via Crafted File

Published Nov 2, 2026 · Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Assigned by HDFG

Description

HDF5 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.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
The HDF Group HDF5 <2.3.0 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 hdf5 No fix yet —
Debian 13 hdf5 No fix yet —
Debian 12 hdf5 No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 hdf5 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS hdf5 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS hdf5 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS hdf5 No fix yet —
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS hdf5 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS hdf5 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS hdf5 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS hdf5 No fix yet —

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 3 hdf5 No fix yet —

References