libxml2: Denial of service — GLSA 201409-08

A vulnerability in libxml2 allows a remote attacker to cause Denial of Service.

Affected packages

dev-libs/libxml2 on all architectures
Affected versions < 2.9.1-r4
Unaffected versions >= 2.9.1-r4

Background

libxml2 is the XML C parser and toolkit developed for the Gnome project.

Description

A vulnerability in the xmlParserHandlePEReference() function of parser.c, when expanding entity references, can be exploited to consume large amounts of memory and cause a crash or hang.

Impact

A remote attacker may be able to cause Denial of Service via a specially crafted XML file containing malicious attributes.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All libxml2 users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-libs/libxml2-2.9.1-r4"
 

References

Release date
September 19, 2014

Latest revision
September 19, 2014: 1

Severity
normal

Exploitable
remote

Bugzilla entries