Security Vulnerabilities in the libxml2 Library Routines xmlBufferResize() and xmlSAX2Characters() May Lead to Arbitrary Code Execution or Denial of Service (DoS)

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Security Vulnerabilities in the libxml2 Library Routines xmlBufferResize() and xmlSAX2Characters() May Lead to Arbitrary Code Execution or Denial of Service (DoS)

1. Impact

There are two security vulnerabilities in the libxml2 library (see libxml2(3)) bundled with Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 which may impact applications making use of this library. The precise impact will vary depending on the application.

The first issue is an integer overflow in the xmlBufferResize() libxml2 function (CVE-2008-4225) which may allow a local or remote unprivileged user who provides a specially crafted XML file to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) to the application which is using the libxml2 library (or potentially to the system as a whole as the application may consume excessive resources).

The second issue is an integer overflow in the xmlSAX2Characters() libxml2 function (CVE-2008-4226) which may allow a local or remote unprivileged user who provides a specially crafted XML file to cause an application crash or an arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the application.

Additional information regarding these issues is available in the following documents:


2. Contributing Factors

These issues can occur in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

• Solaris 9 without patch 114014-22
• Solaris 10 without patch 125731-04
• OpenSolaris based upon builds snv_01 through snv_105

x86 Platform

• Solaris 9 without patch 114015-22
• Solaris 10 without patch 125732-04
• OpenSolaris based upon builds snv_01 through snv_105

Note: Solaris 8 does not bundle libxml2 and thus no applications supplied with Solaris 8 use libxml2. However, libxml2 version 2.4.12 is included on the Solaris 8 OS Software Supplement CD for use with SunVTS 5.1. which is not affected by these issues.

3. Symptoms

If the first issue has been exploited, the application which makes use of the libxml2 library to process the crafted XML file may be unresponsive, possibly consuming all available CPU resources while looping. Commands such as prstat(1M) can be used to determine the utilization of system resources, for example:

$ prstat -s cpu
[...]

If the second issue has been exploited, the application which makes use of the libxml2 library to process the crafted XML file may no longer be available. Depending on the system configuration, core files may be created and application crashes may be recorded in system logs.

4. Workaround

There are no workarounds for these issues. Please see the Resolution section below.

5. Resolution

These issues are addressed in the following release:

SPARC Platform

• Solaris 9 with patch 114014-22 or later
• Solaris 10 with patch 125731-04 or later
  
• OpenSolaris based upon build snv_106 or later

x86 Platform

• Solaris 9 with patch 114015-22 or later
  
• Solaris 10 with patch 125732-04 or later
• OpenSolaris based upon build snv_106 or later

For more information on Security Sun Alerts, see Technical Instruction ID 213557.

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Modification History

09-Feb-2009: Updated Contributing Factors and Resolution sections; now Resolved

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