libxml2: Multiple vulnerabilities

Security Team Contact Address

Updated December 02, 2008

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200812-06 / libxml2
Release Date	December 02, 2008
Latest Revision	December 02, 2008: 01
Impact	normal
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
dev-libs/libxml2	< 2.7.2-r1	>= 2.7.2-r1	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #234099, #237806, #239346, #245960

Synopsis

Multiple vulnerabilities in libxml2 might lead to execution of arbitrary code or Denial of Service.

2. Impact Information

Background

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

Description

Multiple vulnerabilities were reported in libxml2:

Andreas Solberg reported that libxml2 does not properly detect recursion during entity expansion in an attribute value (CVE-2008-3281).
A heap-based buffer overflow has been reported in the xmlParseAttValueComplex() function in parser.c (CVE-2008-3529).
Christian Weiske reported that predefined entity definitions in entities are not properly handled (CVE-2008-4409).
Drew Yao of Apple Product Security reported an integer overflow in the xmlBufferResize() function that can lead to an infinite loop (CVE-2008-4225).
Drew Yao of Apple Product Security reported an integer overflow in the xmlSAX2Characters() function leading to a memory corruption (CVE-2008-4226).

Impact

A remote attacker could entice a user or automated system to open a specially crafted XML document with an application using libxml2, possibly resulting in the exeution of arbitrary code or a high CPU and memory consumption.

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/libxml2-2.7.2-r1"

4. References