liboqs: Uninitialized function-pointer dereference in OQS_KEM_encaps_derand for NTRU KEMs
- Exploited
- No known exploitation
- Fix
- Fixed in 0.16.0
- Who is exposed
- Not reported
Do first: Upgrade to a fixed version: 0.16.0.
- Last modified
- A 0-100 score for how much a CVE matters across the industry: exploitation, exposure, how widely the software is used, severity and whether a fix exists.What do these mean? →
- 22/100 · provisional
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
Summary
liboqs, a C library of post-quantum cryptography algorithms, can crash when an application calls OQS_KEM_encaps_derand on certain NTRU key encapsulation methods, letting an attacker cause a denial of service in the calling process. An attacker can reach this remotely, without logging in, and no user action is needed.
Written by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5 from the sources below. Verify against them.
Read the original description
liboqs is a C-language cryptographic library that provides implementations of post-quantum cryptography algorithms. Prior to 0.16.0, OQS_KEM_encaps_derand can dereference an uninitialized encaps_derand function pointer when called on NTRU-HPS-2048-509, NTRU-HPS-2048-677, NTRU-HPS-4096-821, NTRU-HPS-4096-1229, NTRU-HRSS-701, or NTRU-HRSS-1373. The affected NTRU constructors omit the OQS_KEM.encaps_derand member because those schemes do not support derandomized encapsulation, OQS_KEM objects are allocated without zero initialization, and the wrapper in src/kem/kem.c checks only that the OQS_KEM pointer is non-null before calling through the residual heap value. An application is affected only if it instantiates one of those six NTRU KEMs and invokes OQS_KEM_encaps_derand on it. The supported impact is a calling-process crash and denial of service. This issue is fixed in version 0.16.0.
cve.now Index
- Exploitation?/40Unknown. No CISA SSVC exploitation rating yet
- Exposure17/25No login or user action needed per the CVSS vector, reachable over the network without a login · Unknown: No advisory context yet
- Reach?/20Unknown. No tracked technology or package matched
- Severity5.3/10CVSS 5.3
- No patch0/5No signal
What would change the score
- Would score about 67 if added to CISA KEV
- Would score about 62 if CISA's SSVC rates exploitation active
- Would score about 27 if advisories confirm default setups are exposed
What to do
Upgrade to a fixed version: 0.16.0.
Timeline
- CVE published
- First seen by cve.now
Affected versions
- open-quantum-safe liboqs
fixed in 0.16.0
Evidence 4
- Advisory
- Repository
- Repository
- Repository
Corrections
None so far.
Something wrong on this page? Report an error. Every fix is listed here.
Questions about CVE-2026-47738
Is CVE-2026-47738 being exploited?
It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-47738?
liboqs: before 0.16.0.Source: cve.now feed data
How do I fix CVE-2026-47738?
Upgrade to a fixed version: 0.16.0.Source: cve.now feed data