parser.c in libxml2 before 2.9.5 does not prevent infinite recursion in parameter entities.
Priority MEDIUM 48CWE-835Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 7 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-835.
Summary
parser.c in libxml2 before 2.9.5 does not prevent infinite recursion in parameter entities.
Why it matters now
Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.06452 93rd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial nokogiri (RubyGems): 1.8.1Red Hat: 7 without a fix
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | nokogiri (RubyGems) | before 1.8.1 | 1.8.1 | Patch available | GHSA-x2fm-93ww-ggvx |
- — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- nokogiri (RubyGems) Vendor— Affected before 1.8.1 Fixed in 1.8.1 Patch available GHSA-x2fm-93ww-ggvx
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-x2fm-93ww-ggvx nokogiri (RubyGems) Fixed in 1.8.1 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| CloudForms Management Engine 5 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 | Affected | — |
| Red Hat Satellite 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Subscription Asset Manager | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Software Collections
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2017-16932
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-x2fm-93ww-ggvx
References
Other 10
- https://blog.clamav.net/2018/07/clamav-01001-has-been-released.html
- [debian-lts-announce] 20171130 [SECURITY] [DLA 1194-1] libxml2 security update
- https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=759579
- [bookkeeper-issues] 20210628 [GitHub] [bookkeeper] padma81 opened a new issue #2746: Security Vulnerabilities in CentOS 7 image, Upgrade image to CentOS 8
- [bookkeeper-issues] 20210629 [GitHub] [bookkeeper] padma81 opened a new issue #2746: Security Vulnerabilities in CentOS 7 image, Upgrade image to CentOS 8
- [debian-lts-announce] 20220408 [SECURITY] [DLA 2972-1] libxml2 security update
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/899a5d9f0ed13b8e32449a08a361e0de127dd961
- https://github.com/sparklemotion/nokogiri/issues/1714
- https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/nokogiri/CVE-2017-16932.yml
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3739-1
More xmlsoft Libxml2 vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-06117 xmlStringLenDecodeEntities in parser.c in libxml2 2.9.10 has an infinite loop in a certain end-of-file situation. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2025-05441 Libxml2: integer overflow in xmlbuildqname() leads to stack buffer overflow in libxml2 CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2024-22792 An issue was discovered in xmllint (from libxml2) before 2.11.8 and 2.12.x before 2.12.7. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2017-06514 libxml2 20904-GITv2.9.4-16-g0741801 is vulnerable to a heap-based buffer over-read in the… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2022-19140 An issue was discovered in libxml2 before 2.10.3. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2025-23491 Out-of-bounds read in xmlsoft libxml2 CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2017-16932 · CVE Program
- CVE-2017-16932 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-x2fm-93ww-ggvx · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2017-16932 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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