CVE-2017-9047
7.5 · HIGHOverview
CVE-2017-9047 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting xmlsoft libxml2. It was published on May 18, 2017 and has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
A buffer overflow was discovered in libxml2 20904-GITv2.9.4-16-g0741801. The function xmlSnprintfElementContent in valid.c is supposed to recursively dump the element content definition into a char buffer 'buf' of size 'size'. The variable len is assigned strlen(buf). If the content->type is XML_ELEMENT_CONTENT_ELEMENT, then (i) the content->prefix is appended to buf (if it actually fits) whereupon (ii) content->name is written to the buffer. However, the check for whether the content->name actually fits also uses 'len' rather than the updated buffer length strlen(buf). This allows us to write about "size" many bytes beyond the allocated memory. This vulnerability causes programs that use libxml2, such as PHP, to crash.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from xmlsoft. Update libxml2 to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
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References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2017-9047?
CVE-2017-9047 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting xmlsoft libxml2. It was published on May 18, 2017 and has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).
How severe is CVE-2017-9047?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2017-9047?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from xmlsoft. Update libxml2 to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2017-9047?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2017-9047 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
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