#VU32048 Buffer overflow in Libxml2 - CVE-2017-16931

Vulnerability identifier: #VU32048

Vulnerability risk: High

CVSSv4.0: 8.1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber]

CVE-ID: CVE-2017-16931

CWE-ID: CWE-119

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 non-authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.

parser.c in libxml2 before 2.9.5 mishandles parameter-entity references because the NEXTL macro calls the xmlParserHandlePEReference function in the case of a '%' character in a DTD name.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Libxml2: 2.9.0 - 2.9.4-16-g0741801

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External links
https://xmlsoft.org/news.html
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=766956
https://github.com/GNOME/libxml2/commit/e26630548e7d138d2c560844c43820b6767251e3
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2017/11/msg00041.html

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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.