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 number of nested entity references, aka the "billion laughs attack."
Published · last modified .
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.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.016 (75.1th percentile), scored .
Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 75th percentile — 75.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.016 · newest: 0.016 · change: 0.000
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- secunia.com/advisories/31868 (Broken Link, third-party-advisory)
- xmlsoft.org/news.html (Release Notes)
- www.stylusstudio.com/xmldev/200302/post20020.html (mailing-list, Broken Link)
- www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/65843/time_to_upgrade_libxml2 (Issue Tracking)
- mail.gnome.org/archives/xml/2008-August/msg00034.html (mailing-list, Patch, Mailing List)
- www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0886.html (vendor-advisory, Broken Link)
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.