Issued:
2012-01-11
Updated:
2012-01-11

RHSA-2012:0017 - Important: libxml2 security update

Synopsis

Important: libxml2 security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

Updated libxml2 packages that fix several security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from the CVE links in the References section.

Description

The libxml2 library is a development toolbox providing the implementation of various XML standards. One of those standards is the XML Path Language (XPath), which is a language for addressing parts of an XML document.

A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way libxml2 decoded entity references with long names. A remote attacker could provide a specially-crafted XML file that, when opened in an application linked against libxml2, would cause the application to crash or, potentially, execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application. (CVE-2011-3919)

An off-by-one error, leading to a heap-based buffer overflow, was found in the way libxml2 parsed certain XML files. A remote attacker could provide a specially-crafted XML file that, when opened in an application linked against libxml2, would cause the application to crash or, potentially, execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application. (CVE-2011-0216)

An integer overflow flaw, leading to a heap-based buffer overflow, was found in the way libxml2 parsed certain XPath expressions. If an attacker were able to supply a specially-crafted XML file to an application using libxml2, as well as an XPath expression for that application to run against the crafted file, it could cause the application to crash or, possibly, execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2011-1944)

Flaws were found in the way libxml2 parsed certain XPath expressions. If an attacker were able to supply a specially-crafted XML file to an application using libxml2, as well as an XPath expression for that application to run against the crafted file, it could cause the application to crash. (CVE-2010-4008, CVE-2011-2834)

An out-of-bounds memory read flaw was found in libxml2. A remote attacker could provide a specially-crafted XML file that, when opened in an application linked against libxml2, would cause the application to crash. (CVE-2011-3905)

Note: Red Hat does not ship any applications that use libxml2 in a way that would allow the CVE-2011-1944, CVE-2010-4008, and CVE-2011-2834 flaws to be exploited; however, third-party applications may allow XPath expressions to be passed which could trigger these flaws.

Red Hat would like to thank the Google Security Team for reporting the CVE-2010-4008 issue. Upstream acknowledges Bui Quang Minh from Bkis as the original reporter of CVE-2010-4008.

All users of libxml2 are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. The desktop must be restarted (log out, then log back in) for this update to take effect.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian5ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems5s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5i386

Updated Packages

  • libxml2-python-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.ia64.rpm
  • libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.ppc64.rpm
  • libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.i386.rpm
  • libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.ppc.rpm
  • libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.s390.rpm
  • libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.s390x.rpm
  • libxml2-python-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.ppc.rpm
  • libxml2-python-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.x86_64.rpm
  • libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.ppc.rpm
  • libxml2-python-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.s390x.rpm
  • libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.x86_64.rpm
  • libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.ppc64.rpm
  • libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.s390x.rpm
  • libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.src.rpm
  • libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.x86_64.rpm
  • libxml2-python-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.i386.rpm
  • libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.i386.rpm
  • libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.s390.rpm
  • libxml2-devel-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.ia64.rpm
  • libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.12.el5_7.2.ia64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information