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CVE-2026-11979

HIGHCVSS 7.8/10EPSS 0.20%

Last modified

CVE-2026-11979 is a high-severity vulnerability rated 7.8/10 on the CVSS scale. libxml2 is vulnerable to multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the xmlcatalog utility when running in --shell mode. The usershell() function processes user input using fixed-size stack buffers without proper bounds checking. By supplying an overly long input line, an attacker can overflow internal buffers (command, arg, and argv) during input parsing. EPSS estimates a 0.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

libxml2 is vulnerable to multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the xmlcatalog utility when running in --shell mode. The usershell() function processes user input using fixed-size stack buffers without proper bounds checking. By supplying an overly long input line, an attacker can overflow internal buffers (command, arg, and argv) during input parsing. This results in memory corruption within the stack frame. Successful exploitation may cause a crash or potentially allow arbitrary code execution in the context of the xmlcatalog process. This issue has been fixed in the commit c2e233fc. NOTE: The maintainers of this project did not agree that this issue is a vulnerability and considered it a bug.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1
7.8/10

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS 4.0
1.8/10

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

EPSS Probability
0.20%

10.2th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

VendorProductVersions
XmlsoftLibxml2<= 2.15.3

References

Timeline

Published
Last Modified
Status
Analyzed

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-11979?
libxml2 is vulnerable to multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the xmlcatalog utility when running in --shell mode. The usershell() function processes user input using fixed-size stack buffers without proper bounds checking. By supplying an overly long input line, an attacker can overflow internal buffers (command, arg, and argv) during input parsing. This results in memory corruption within the stack frame. Successful exploitation may cause a crash or potentially allow arbitrary code execution in the context of the xmlcatalog process. This issue has been fixed in the commit c2e233fc. NOTE: The maintainers of this project did not agree that this issue is a vulnerability and considered it a bug.
How severe is CVE-2026-11979?
CVE-2026-11979 has a CVSS score of 7.8/10 (HIGH severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.20% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How do I fix CVE-2026-11979?
Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

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Source: NVD / NIST