# CVE-2026-47738: liboqs: Uninitialized function-pointer dereference in OQS_KEM_encaps_derand for NTRU KEMs

Status: published. Published: 2026-11-06. Updated: 2026-11-06.

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.

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- open-quantum-safe / liboqs: < 0.16.0 (affected). Source: CNA: GitHub_M

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 5.3 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L; source: CNA: GitHub_M

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: Not available

- SSVC: Not available

- Weaknesses: CWE-824

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/security/advisories/GHSA-jr5q-r9qx-v738 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_CONFIRM)

- https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/pull/2460 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/commit/80ceff0207658eba98bae8eb22ca3aa2a364f40b (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/releases/tag/0.16.0 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

## Provenance

- CNA: GitHub_M: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-47738; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

Revision: 10dba8abd4739af8669070ab5099a001efc38eb637e068699d71cc18069e9991

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-47738

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