Libxml2 XML file denial of service

libxml2-xml-file-dos (45633) The risk level is classified as MediumMedium Risk

Description:

Libxml2 is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by the improper handling of XML files. By sending a specially-crafted XML file containing a predefined entity inside an entity definition, a remote attacker could consume all available memory resources resulting in a denial of service.

*CVSS:

Base Score: 5
  Access Vector: Network
  Access Complexity: Low
  Authentication: None
  Confidentiality Impact: None
  Integrity Impact: None
  Availability Impact: Partial
 
Temporal Score: 3.7
  Exploitability: Unproven
  Remediation Level: Official-Fix
  Report Confidence: Confirmed

Consequences:

Denial of Service

Remedy:

Upgrade to the latest version of Libxml2 (2.7.2 or later), available from the libxml2 FTP page. See References.

For other distributions:
Apply the appropriate update for your system. See References.

References:

  • Apple Web site: About the security content of Safari 4.0.
  • Gnome Bugzilla Bug 554660: Using an entity in entity definition leads to endless loop / DoS possible.
  • libxml2 FTP page: Index of ftp://xmlsoft.org/libxml2/.
  • Libxml2 Web page: The XML C parser and toolkit of Gnome.
  • BID-31555: libxml2 Denial of Service Vulnerability
  • CVE-2008-4409: libxml2 2.7.0 and 2.7.1 does not properly handle predefined entities definitions in entities, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and application crash), as demonstrated by use of xmllint on a certain XML document, a different vulnerability than CVE-2003-1564 and CVE-2008-3281.
  • GLSA-200812-06: libxml2: Multiple vulnerabilities
  • MDVSA-2008:212: libxml2
  • SA32130: Libxml2 Predefined Entities Denial of Service Vulnerability
  • SA35379: Apple Safari Multiple Vulnerabilities
  • VUPEN/ADV-2009-1522: Apple Safari Multiple Code Execution and Security Bypass Vulnerabilities
  • VUPEN/ADV-2009-1621: Apple iPhone and iPod touch Multiple Code Execution Vulnerabilities

Platforms Affected:

  • Apple Mac OS X 10.4.11
  • Apple Mac OS X 10.5.7
  • Apple Mac OS X Server 10.4.11
  • Apple Mac OS X Server 10.5.7
  • Apple Safari 0.8
  • Apple Safari 0.9
  • Apple Safari 1.0
  • Apple Safari 1.0.3
  • Apple Safari 1.1
  • Apple Safari 1.2
  • Apple Safari 1.3
  • Apple Safari 1.3.1
  • Apple Safari 1.3.2
  • Apple Safari 2.0
  • Apple Safari 2.0.2
  • Apple Safari 2.0.4
  • Apple Safari 3.0
  • Apple Safari 3.0.1
  • Apple Safari 3.0.2
  • Apple Safari 3.0.2 Mac
  • Apple Safari 3.0.3
  • Apple Safari 3.0.4
  • Apple Safari 3.1
  • Apple Safari 3.1.1
  • Apple Safari 3.1.2
  • Apple Safari 3.2
  • Apple Safari 3.2.1
  • Apple Safari 3.2.2
  • Apple Safari 3.2.3
  • Apple Safari 4.0 Beta
  • Gentoo Linux
  • Mandriva Linux 2009.0
  • Mandriva Linux 2009.0 X86_64
  • XMLsoft Libxml2 2.7.0
  • XMLsoft Libxml2 2.7.1

Reported:

Oct 02, 2008

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