1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-4784-1

USN-4784-1: Xerces-C++ vulnerabilities

Publication date

15 March 2021

Overview

Several security issues were fixed in Xerces-C++.

Releases

Packages

  • xerces-c - Validating XML parser written in a portable subset of C++

Details

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ XML Parser mishandles certain kinds of
external DTD references, resulting in a user-after-free. An attacker could
use this vulnerability to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly
execute arbitrary code. This issue affected only Ubuntu 16.04 ESM.
(CVE-2016-2099)

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ XML Parser fails to successfully parse a
DTD that is too deeply nested. An unauthenticated attacker could use this
vulnerability to cause a denial of service. This issue affected only Ubuntu
16.04 ESM. (CVE-2016-4463)

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ mishandles certain kinds of external DTD
references, resulting in dereference of a NULL pointer. An attacker could
use this vulnerability to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2017-12627)

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ XML Parser mishandles certain kinds of
external DTD references, resulting in a user-after-free. An attacker could
use this vulnerability to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly
execute arbitrary code. This issue affected only Ubuntu 16.04 ESM.
(CVE-2016-2099)

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ XML Parser fails to successfully parse a
DTD that is too deeply nested. An unauthenticated attacker could use this
vulnerability to cause a denial of service. This issue affected only Ubuntu
16.04 ESM. (CVE-2016-4463)

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ mishandles certain kinds of external DTD
references, resulting in dereference of a NULL pointer. An attacker could
use this vulnerability to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2017-12627)

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
18.04 bionic libxerces-c3.2 –  3.2.0+debian-2ubuntu0.1~esm1  
16.04 xenial libxerces-c-dev –  3.1.3+debian-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
libxerces-c3.1 –  3.1.3+debian-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
libxerces-c-samples –  3.1.3+debian-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
libxerces-c-doc –  3.1.3+debian-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  

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References

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