CVE-2026-88386

Deferred Deferred - Pending Action

Misaligned Memory Access in libsndfile WAV Parsing

Publication date: 2026-09-24

Last updated on: 2026-09-24

Assigner: MITRE

Description

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.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-24

Last Modified

2026-09-24

Generated

2026-09-25

AI Q&A

2026-09-25

EPSS Evaluated

N/A

NVD

CVE-2026-88386

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
libsndfile	libsndfile	1.2.2

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a misaligned memory access issue in the libsndfile library version 1.2.2. It occurs in the psf_binheader_readf() function when parsing WAV fmt chunks. A specially crafted WAV file triggers undefined behavior by casting an unaligned memory address to an unsigned int pointer and performing a 4-byte store operation. This leads to denial of service.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is triggered by parsing malformed WAV files. To detect it, scan systems for libsndfile usage and monitor for crashes when processing WAV files. Check for unaligned memory access errors in logs. Use tools like 'file' to inspect WAV files for anomalies.

Impact Analysis

The vulnerability can cause denial of service when processing malicious WAV files. If exploited, it may crash applications using libsndfile, disrupting audio processing tasks or services relying on this library.

Mitigation Strategies

Update libsndfile to the latest version. Avoid processing untrusted WAV files. Implement input validation for WAV files. Monitor for crashes or memory errors during file parsing. Disable automatic WAV file processing if possible.

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