XXE in Xmlsoft Libxml2

CVE-2003-1564

libxml2, possibly before 2.5.0, does not properly detect recursion during entity expansion, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption) via a crafted XML document containing a large nu…

EPSS: 0.016 (73.1th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2003-1564?
CVE-2003-1564 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Xmlsoft Libxml2, classified under Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs (XML Entity Expansion). CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2003-12-31.
How severe is CVE-2003-1564?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2003-1564 known to be exploited?
3 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.