Libexpat
CVE-2019-15903
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Bounds checking, read limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could read data from memory outside the intended buffer boundaries by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAI
In libexpat before 2.2.8, crafted XML input could fool the parser into changing from DTD parsing to document parsing too early; a consecutive call to XML_GetCurrentLineNumber (or. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Validate array indices and buffer lengths. Use memory-safe languages. Enable AddressSanitizer during testing.
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125), which allows attackers to read data from memory outside the intended buffer boundaries. In libexpat before 2.2.8, crafted XML input could fool the parser into changing from DTD parsing to document parsing too early; a consecutive call to XML_GetCurrentLineNumber (or XML_GetCurrentColumnNumber) then resulted in a heap-based buffer over-read. Affected products include: Libexpat Project Libexpat, Python. Version information: before 2.2.8.
Know when Libexpat gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
In libexpat before 2.2.8, crafted XML input could fool the parser into changing from DTD parsing to document parsing too early; a consecutive call to XML_GetCurrentLineNumber (or XML_GetCurrentColumnNumber) then resulted in a heap-based buffer over-read.
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
A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
In Expat (aka libexpat) before 2.4.5, there is an integer overflow in storeRawNames. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8),
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
libexpat in Expat before 2.7.2 allows attackers to trigger large dynamic memory allocations via a small document that is
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
An issue was discovered in libexpat before 2.6.3. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exp
Denial of service in libexpat through 2.8.3 stems from quadratic CPU complexity in the storeAtts() XML attribute process
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
Exploit-DB