Debian Security Advisory
DLA-2498-1 xerces-c -- LTS security update
- Date Reported:
- 17 Dec 2020
- Affected Packages:
- xerces-c
- Vulnerable:
- Yes
- Security database references:
- In the Debian bugtracking system: Bug 947431.
In Mitre's CVE dictionary: CVE-2018-1311. - More information:
-
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) discovered that Xerces-C, a validating XML parser library for C++, contains a use-after-free error triggered during the scanning of external DTDs. An attacker could cause a Denial of Service (DoS) and possibly achieve remote code execution. This flaw has not been addressed in the maintained version of the library and has no complete mitigation. The first is provided by this update which fixes the use-after-free vulnerability at the expense of a memory leak. The other is to disable DTD processing, which can be accomplished via the DOM using a standard parser feature, or via SAX using the XERCES_DISABLE_DTD environment variable.
For Debian 9 stretch, this problem has been fixed in version 3.1.4+debian-2+deb9u2.
We recommend that you upgrade your xerces-c packages.
For the detailed security status of xerces-c please refer to its security tracker page at: https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/xerces-c
Further information about Debian LTS security advisories, how to apply these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be found at: https://wiki.debian.org/LTS