Libexpat: expat: improper restriction of xml entity expansion depth in libexpat
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2024-8176 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | redhat |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2025-03-14 09:15:14 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-06-30 00:16:49 UTC |
| Description | A stack overflow vulnerability exists in the libexpat library due to the way it handles recursive entity expansion in XML documents. When parsing an XML document with deeply nested entity references, libexpat can be forced to recurse indefinitely, exhausting the stack space and causing a crash. This issue could lead to denial of service (DoS) or, in some cases, exploitable memory corruption, depending on the environment and library usage. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 7.5 HIGH from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS: 0.015690000 probability, percentile 0.723190000 (date 2026-07-01)
Problem Types: CWE-674 | CWE-674 Uncontrolled Recursion
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Secondary | 7.5 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 7.5 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowPrivileges Required
NoneUser Interaction
NoneScope
UnchangedConfidentiality
NoneIntegrity
NoneAvailability
HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Vendor Declared Affected Products
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| blog.hartwork.org/posts/expat-2-7-0-released | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | blog.hartwork.org | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4449 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/7 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | seclists.org | |
| bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | bugzilla.suse.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:3913 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/10 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | seclists.org | |
| ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-8176 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | ubuntu.com | |
| seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/6 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | seclists.org | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22842 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22607 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi | [email protected] | bugzilla.redhat.com | |
| www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/03/15/1 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | www.openwall.com | |
| github.com/libexpat/libexpat/issues/893 | [email protected] | github.com | |
| www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/760160 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | www.kb.cert.org | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:7512 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22033 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:7444 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| github.com/libexpat/libexpat/blob/R_2_7_0/expat/Changes | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | github.com | |
| seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/11 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | seclists.org | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4447 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22785 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/09/24/11 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | www.openwall.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4048 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-8176 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | security-tracker.debian.org | |
| seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/8 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | seclists.org | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22034 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:3734 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:13681 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-8176 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4448 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| github.com/libexpat/libexpat/pull/973 | [email protected] | github.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22035 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:3531 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:4446 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22871 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:8385 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/commit/d068c3ff36fc6f4789988a09c69b434db757db53 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | gitlab.alpinelinux.org | |
| seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/12 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | seclists.org | |
| security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250328-0009 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | security.netapp.com | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: This issue was discovered by Jann Horn (Google Project Zero), Sandipan Roy (Red Hat), Sebastian Pipping (libexpat), and Tomas Korbar (Red Hat). (en)
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| CNA | 2024-06-12T00:00:00.000Z | Reported to Red Hat. |
| CNA | 2025-03-13T13:51:54.957Z | Made public. |
Workarounds
CNA: Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.