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Fencer Intel
medium 5.0

CVE-2014-3660 json

parser.c in libxml2 before 2.9.2 does not properly prevent entity expansion even when entity substitution has been disabled, which allows c…

published 2014-11-04 12 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2014-3613

cvss
5.0
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.8%
EPSS 3.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 90%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

parser.c in libxml2 before 2.9.2 does not properly prevent entity expansion even when entity substitution has been disabled, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a crafted XML document containing a large number of nested entity references, a variant of the "billion laughs" attack.

Patch / fix

  • libxml2 Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.9.2+dfsg1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2014-3660

  • libxml2 Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 2.9.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu4.4

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2014-3660

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • libxml2 RHEL 5 2.6.26-2.1.25.el5_11
  • libxml2-python RHEL 5 2.6.26-2.1.25.el5_11
  • libxml2 RHEL 6 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1
  • libxml2 RHEL 7 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1
  • libxml2-python RHEL 6 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1
  • libxml2-python RHEL 7 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1

red hat advisories RHSA-2014:1885RHSA-2014:1655

  • libxml2 openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.9.4-1.22

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10192-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2014-3660 updated cvss 4.3

libxml2: denial of service via recursive entity expansion

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) libxml2 2.6.26-2.1.25.el5_11, libxml2-python 2.6.26-2.1.25.el5_11
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1885
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) libxml2 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1, libxml2-python 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) libxml2 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1, libxml2-python 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) libxml2 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1, libxml2-python 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) libxml2 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1, libxml2-python 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1655
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) libxml2 2.6.26-2.1.25.el5_11, libxml2-python 2.6.26-2.1.25.el5_11
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1885
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) libxml2 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1, libxml2-python 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) libxml2 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1, libxml2-python 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1655
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client) libxml2 2.6.26-2.1.25.el5_11, libxml2-python 2.6.26-2.1.25.el5_11
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1885
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) libxml2 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1, libxml2-python 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) libxml2 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1, libxml2-python 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) libxml2 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1, libxml2-python 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) libxml2 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1, libxml2-python 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) libxml2 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1, libxml2-python 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) libxml2 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1, libxml2-python 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1
    +4 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) libxml2 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1, libxml2-python 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) libxml2 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1, libxml2-python 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) libxml2 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1, libxml2-python 2.7.6-17.el6_6.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) libxml2 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1, libxml2-python 2.9.1-5.el7_0.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1655

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

3.78% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 90% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 5.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.