CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2016-4448

Use of Externally-Controlled Format String

Published: Jun 09, 2016 | Modified: Feb 12, 2023
CVSS 3.x
9.8
CRITICAL
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
10 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
RedHat/V2
5.1 MODERATE
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu
LOW

Format string vulnerability in libxml2 before 2.9.4 allows attackers to have unspecified impact via format string specifiers in unknown vectors.

Weakness

The product uses a function that accepts a format string as an argument, but the format string originates from an external source.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Icewall_federation_agent Hp 3.0 (including) 3.0 (including)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 RedHat libxml2-0:2.7.6-21.el6_8.1 *
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat libxml2-0:2.9.1-6.el7_2.3 *
Red Hat JBoss Core Services 1 RedHat *
Libxml2 Ubuntu precise *
Libxml2 Ubuntu trusty *
Libxml2 Ubuntu upstream *
Libxml2 Ubuntu vivid/stable-phone-overlay *
Libxml2 Ubuntu wily *
Libxml2 Ubuntu xenial *

Extended Description

When an attacker can modify an externally-controlled format string, this can lead to buffer overflows, denial of service, or data representation problems. It should be noted that in some circumstances, such as internationalization, the set of format strings is externally controlled by design. If the source of these format strings is trusted (e.g. only contained in library files that are only modifiable by the system administrator), then the external control might not itself pose a vulnerability.

Potential Mitigations

References