#VU24489 Memory leak in Libxml2 - CVE-2019-19956

Vulnerability identifier: #VU24489

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 6.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-19956

CWE-ID: CWE-401

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 perform DoS attack on the target system.

The vulnerability exists due memory leak in xmlParseBalancedChunkMemoryRecover in parser.c. A remote attacker can trigger a memory leak related to newDoc->oldNs and perform denial of service attack.

Mitigation
Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Libxml2: 1.7.0 - 2.9.9

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External links
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/commit/5a02583c7e683896d84878bd90641d8d9b0d0549
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/12/msg00032.html
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200114-0002/

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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.