NULL Pointer Dereference Affecting libxml2 package, versions <2.9.4-r4
Threat Intelligence
The probability is the direct output of the EPSS model, and conveys an overall sense of the threat of exploitation in the wild. The percentile measures the EPSS probability relative to all known EPSS scores. Note: This data is updated daily, relying on the latest available EPSS model version. Check out the EPSS documentation for more details.
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- published4 Dec 2025
- disclosed11 Apr 2017
Introduced: 11 Apr 2017
CVE-2017-5969 (opens in a new tab)How to fix?
Upgrade Alpine:3.23 libxml2 to version 2.9.4-r4 or higher.
NVD Description
Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream libxml2 package and not the libxml2 package as distributed by Alpine.
See How to fix? for Alpine:3.23 relevant fixed versions and status.
libxml2 2.9.4, when used in recover mode, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference) via a crafted XML document. NOTE: The maintainer states "I would disagree of a CVE with the Recover parsing option which should only be used for manual recovery at least for XML parser.
References
- https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2017-5969
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-5969
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201711-01
- https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=778519
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/11/05/3
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/02/13/1
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96188
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/04/msg00004.html