Libxml: heap use after free (uaf) leads to denial of service (dos)
Summary
A use-after-free vulnerability was found in libxml2. This issue occurs when parsing XPath elements under certain circumstances when the XML schematron has the schema elements. This flaw allows a malicious actor to craft a malicious XML document used as input for libxml, resulting in the program's crash using libxml or other possible undefined behaviors. Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support; and 25 more. Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Telecommunications Update Service; and 20 more.
What this means
In plain English
A use-after-free vulnerability was found in libxml2. This issue occurs when parsing XPath elements under certain circumstances when the XML schematron has the schema elements. This flaw allows a malicious actor to craft a malicious XML document used as input for libxml, resulting in the program's crash using libxml or other possible undefined behaviors. Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support; and 25 more. Successful exploitation can interrupt the affected service or exhaust resources, reducing availability until the component recovers.
Recommended action
Primary action: update to a vendor-listed fixed release: 2.15.0.
Rewritten locally from the scraped official advisory data above; no generative API is used. The vendor advisory is authoritative.
- before 2.15.0
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 6 hours ago·verify at source
Mitigation
Upgrade to a fixed release: 2.15.0. That is the remediation for this advisory.
The vendor advisory may list additional interim mitigations or workarounds not captured here — review it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 6 hours ago·verify at source
Discussion(0)
No comments yet. Share field notes, upgrade gotchas, or questions — verify against the vendor advisory before acting on community advice.
Sign in to join the discussion.