Vulnerability Database

413,619

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2026-120754 — hdfgroup / hdf5

Use of Uninitialized Resource

HDF5 through 2.2.0 contains an uninitialized memory read vulnerability in H5Z__filter_scaleoffset() in src/H5Zscaleoffset.c. The decode path validates reads against the allocated size of the chunk buffer rather than the number of bytes actually read from the file. Because H5D__chunk_lock() deliberately sizes filtered chunk buffers to the larger of the stored and unfiltered chunk sizes and fills only the stored bytes, a truncated chunk passes these bounds checks and is decompressed from the uninitialized remainder of the allocation. Unrelated heap contents are then returned to the caller as dataset data. Because the reads remain within the allocation, the issue is not detected by AddressSanitizer. An attacker who can get a user or application to read a dataset from a crafted HDF5 file can cause disclosure of process memory. This issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-19029.

  • Published: Nov 3, 2026
  • Updated: Nov 8, 2026
  • CVE: CVE-2026-120754
  • Severity: Low
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Low
  • Score: 3.3
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

CWEs:

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Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.