Denial of Service Vulnerability in libxml2
Summary
DSA-3057-2: libxml2 - regression update. Affects libxml2 versions < 2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy4. Fixed in 2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy4. How to fix ↓
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Background
libxml2 is a widely used library that provides support for reading, modifying, and writing XML and HTML files. It is an essential component for many applications that deal with XML data. However, a vulnerability has been discovered in libxml2 that can lead to a denial of service attack. This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause excessive CPU consumption by providing a specially crafted XML file. Even if entity substitution is disabled, which is the default behavior, the attacker can exploit excessive entity substitutions to overwhelm the parser and cause the application to consume excessive resources.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2014-3660, allows a remote attacker to exploit libxml2's XML parser by providing a malicious XML file. When this file is processed by an application using libxml2, the parser becomes overwhelmed with excessive entity substitutions, leading to a denial of service condition. This vulnerability affects libxml2 versions prior to 2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy4. The impact of this vulnerability can be severe, as it can cause applications to become unresponsive or crash, resulting in service disruption and potential data loss.
How To Fix
Minimum fixed version
2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy4
This is the first release that contains the fix.
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade libxml2Tip — Not sure which version your app runs? Vulert can match this fix to it. Scan free →
Workaround
There is no known workaround for this vulnerability. It is necessary to apply the recommended fix by upgrading the libxml2 package to the patched version.
Conclusion
The libxml2 library is vulnerable to a denial of service attack that can be triggered by processing a specially crafted XML file. To mitigate this vulnerability, it is crucial to upgrade the libxml2 package to the patched version. There is no known workaround for this issue, so applying the fix is the recommended course of action. For further support and guidance on vulnerability remediation, please contact DevNack.com.
See every vulnerability recorded for libxml2 →
FAQ
libxml2 is a library that provides support for reading, modifying, and writing XML and HTML files. It is widely used in various applications and programming languages.
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service condition by overwhelming the libxml2 parser with excessive entity substitutions. This can lead to application crashes and service disruption.
You can use the Vulert Playground (https://vulert.com/scanner) to check if your application is affected by this vulnerability. Simply upload your manifest file (e.g., package-lock.json) and Vulert will analyze it for any open-source vulnerabilities, including this one.
No, there is no known workaround for this vulnerability. It is necessary to apply the recommended fix by upgrading the libxml2 package.
For further support on vulnerability remediation, you can contact info@devnack.com. They can provide guidance and assistance in addressing this vulnerability.
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