CVE-2025-66578
Versions 3.1.3 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability due to a flaw in the libxml2 canonicalization process during document transformation.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.24%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
xmlseclibs is a library written in PHP for working with XML Encryption and Signatures. Versions 3.1.3 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability due to a flaw in the libxml2 canonicalization process during document transformation. When libxml2’s canonicalization is invoked on an invalid XML input, it may return an empty string rather than a canonicalized node. xmlseclibs then proceeds to compute the DigestValue over this empty string, treating it as if canonicalization succeeded. This issue is fixed in version 3.1.4. Workarounds include treating canonicalization failures (exceptions or nil/empty outputs) as fatal and aborting validation, and/or adding explicit checks to reject when canonicalize returns nil/empty or raises errors.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- EPSS
- 0.24% probability · 15th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-248
- Affected
- xmlseclibs project/xmlseclibs
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
References
- https://github.com/robrichards/xmlseclibs/blob/f4131320c6dcd460f1b0c67f16f8bf24ce4b5c3e/src/XMLSecurityDSig.php#L296Product
- https://github.com/robrichards/xmlseclibs/commit/69fd63080bc47a8d51bc101c30b7cb756862d1d6Patch
- https://github.com/robrichards/xmlseclibs/security/advisories/GHSA-c4cc-x928-vjw9Exploit, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.