#VU15364 Infinite loop in Libxml2 - CVE-2018-9251

Vulnerability identifier: #VU15364

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 1.2 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2018-9251

CWE-ID: CWE-835

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Libxml2
Universal components / Libraries / Libraries used by multiple products

Vendor: Gnome Development Team

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause DoS condition on the target system.

The vulnerability exists in the xz_decomp() function of the GNOME libxml2 library, as defined in the xzlib.c source code due to an infinite loop condition in the Lempel-Ziv-Markov (LZMA) decompression feature during the processing of XML files. A remote unauthenticated attacker can trick the victim into opening a specially crafted XML file that submits malicious input, trigger an LZMA_MEMLIMIT_ERROR condition and cause the application to crash.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Libxml2: 2.9.8

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External links
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/commit/2240fbf5912054af025fb6e01e26375100275e74

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.