CVE-2017-9048
libxml2 20904-GITv2.9.4-16-g0741801 is vulnerable to a stack-based buffer overflow.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (4.85%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
libxml2 20904-GITv2.9.4-16-g0741801 is vulnerable to a stack-based buffer overflow. The function xmlSnprintfElementContent in valid.c is supposed to recursively dump the element content definition into a char buffer 'buf' of size 'size'. At the end of the routine, the function may strcat two more characters without checking whether the current strlen(buf) + 2 < size. This vulnerability causes programs that use libxml2, such as PHP, to crash.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 4.85% probability · 92th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-119
- Affected
- xmlsoft/libxml2
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 4.8% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3952
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/05/15/1Exploit, Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/98556Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201711-01
- http://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3952
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/05/15/1Exploit, Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/98556Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201711-01
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.