libxml2: Denial of Service

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200801-20 / libxml2
Release Date	January 30, 2008
Latest Revision	January 30, 2008: 01
Impact	normal
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
dev-libs/libxml2	< 2.6.30-r1	>= 2.6.30-r1	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #202628

Synopsis

A Denial of Service vulnerability has been reported in libxml2.

2. Impact Information

Background

libxml2 is the XML (eXtended Markup Language) C parser and toolkit initially developed for the Gnome project.

Description

Brad Fitzpatrick reported that the xmlCurrentChar() function does not properly handle some UTF-8 multibyte encodings.

Impact

A remote attacker could entice a user to open a specially crafted XML document with an application using libxml2, possibly resulting in a high CPU consumption. Note that this vulnerability could also be triggered without user interaction by an automated system processing XML content.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All libxml2 users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-libs/libxml2-2.6.30-r1"

4. References

CVE-2007-6284

Page updated January 30, 2008

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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