Servers and applications
CVE-2003-1564
libxml2, possibly before 2.5.0, does not properly detect recursion during entity expansion, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption) via a crafted XML document containing a large number of nested entity references, aka the "billion laughs attack."
- Severity
- Medium 6.5
- Published
- 31 Dec 2003
- Last changed
- 16 Jun 2026
- Added to UpHeron
- 1 Nov 2026
- Fixed in
- 2.5.0
- Exploit chance
- 1.6% in the next 30 daysHigher than 75% of CVEs. EPSS by FIRST, 12 Nov 2026
- Weakness
- XML entity expansion (CWE-776)
- Attack
- Over the network · No login needed · Needs someone to click or open something
- Attacker can
- Take it down
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H- Sources
- NVD
Affected software
| Software | Affected versions |
|---|---|
libxml2Servers and applications · cpe:a:xmlsoft:libxml2 |
|