#VU46737 Out-of-bounds read in Libxml2 - CVE-2020-24977

Vulnerability identifier: #VU46737

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 2.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2020-24977

CWE-ID: CWE-125

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 gain access to potentially sensitive information.

The vulnerability exists due to a boundary condition within the xmlEncodeEntitiesInternal() function in libxml2/entities.c in libxml2. A remote attacker can pas specially crafted XML data to the affected application, trigger out-of-bounds read error and read contents of memory on the system.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Libxml2: 2.9.10

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External links
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-09/msg00036.html
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/issues/178
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00009.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.