Libexpat
CVE-2017-11742
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A08:2025 - Software or Data Integrity Failures
ASVS 5.0
V13 - Configuration Search path verification
|
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.02%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | Successful exploitation could compromise the high-severity affected system. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
The writeRandomBytes_RtlGenRandom function in xmlparse.c in libexpat in Expat 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 on Windows allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse ADVAPI32.DLL in the current working. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-426. The writeRandomBytes_RtlGenRandom function in xmlparse.c in libexpat in Expat 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 on Windows allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse ADVAPI32.DLL in the current working directory because of an untrusted search path, aka DLL hijacking. Affected products include: Libexpat Project Libexpat.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionCVE.org
The writeRandomBytes_RtlGenRandom function in xmlparse.c in libexpat in Expat 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 on Windows allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse ADVAPI32.DLL in the current working directory because of an untrusted search path, aka DLL hijacking.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
In Expat (aka libexpat) before 2.4.5, there is an integer overflow in storeRawNames. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8),
libexpat in Expat before 2.7.2 allows attackers to trigger large dynamic memory allocations via a small document that is
In libexpat before 2.2.8, crafted XML input could fool the parser into changing from DTD parsing to document parsing too
CPU exhaustion in libexpat through 2.9.0 lets remote attackers stall XML parsing workloads by supplying a moderately siz
Malformed UTF-16 decoding in libexpat through 2.8.4 lets remote attackers hide XML markup from the parser: a lone high s
In libexpat through 2.4.9, there is a use-after free caused by overeager destruction of a shared DTD in XML_ExternalEnti
Alpine Linux: expat fixed in 2.6.2-r0
XML External Entity vulnerability in libexpat 2.2.0 and earlier (Expat XML Parser Library) allows attackers to put the p
Denial of service in libexpat before 2.8.1 lets remote attackers exhaust CPU by submitting moderately sized crafted XML
expat before version 2.4.0 does not properly handle entities expansion unless an application developer uses the XML_SetE
Expat allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a m
An issue was discovered in libexpat before 2.6.3. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exp
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
Exploit-DB