CVE-2018-14404
A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the xpath.c:xmlXPathCompOpEval() function of libxml2 through 2.9.8 when parsing an invalid XPath expression in the XPATH_OP_AND or XPATH_OP_OR case.
Does this matter?
Lower severity and a low EPSS score (3.75%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.
Description
A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the xpath.c:xmlXPathCompOpEval() function of libxml2 through 2.9.8 when parsing an invalid XPath expression in the XPATH_OP_AND or XPATH_OP_OR case. Applications processing untrusted XSL format inputs with the use of the libxml2 library may be vulnerable to a denial of service attack due to a crash of the application.
- CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 3.75% probability · 90th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-476
- Affected
- canonical/ubuntu linux · debian/debian linux · xmlsoft/libxml2
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 3.7% 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
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:1543
- https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=901817Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1595985Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/issues/10Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00035.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00009.html
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190719-0002/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3739-1/Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3739-2/Third Party Advisory
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:1543
- https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=901817Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1595985Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/issues/10Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00035.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00009.html
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190719-0002/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3739-1/Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3739-2/Third Party Advisory
- 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.