Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2014-3660

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.

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2014-3660 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 5 products from xmlsoft, from apple, from canonical and 2 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2014, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2014-11-04T16:55:06.043

Last Modified

2025-04-12T10:46:40.837

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 5.0 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: NONE
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

10.0

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
NVD-CWE-Other

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	≤ 2.9.1	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.0.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.1.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.1.1	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.1	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.2	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.3	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.4	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.5	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.6	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.7	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.8	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.9	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.10	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.2.11	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.1	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.2	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.3	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.4	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.5	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.6	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.7	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.8	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.9	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.10	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.11	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.12	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.13	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.3.14	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.1	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.2	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.3	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.4	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.5	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.6	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.7	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.8	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.9	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.10	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.11	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.12	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.13	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.14	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.15	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.16	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.17	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.18	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.19	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.20	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.21	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.22	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.23	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.24	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.25	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.26	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.27	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.28	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.29	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.4.30	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.5.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.5.4	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.5.7	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.5.8	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.5.10	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.5.11	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.1	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.2	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.3	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.4	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.5	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.6	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.7	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.8	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.9	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.11	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.12	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.13	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.14	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.16	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.17	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.18	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.20	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.21	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.22	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.23	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.24	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.25	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.26	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.27	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.28	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.29	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.30	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.31	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.6.32	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.1	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.2	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.3	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.4	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.5	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.6	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.7	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.7.8	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.8.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.9.0	Yes
Application	xmlsoft	libxml2	2.9.0	Yes
Operating System	apple	mac_os_x	≤ 10.10.4	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	10.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	7.0	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	5.0	Yes

References

http://kb.juniper.net/InfoCenter/index?page=content&id=JSA10705 ([email protected])
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Aug/msg00001.html ([email protected])
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Aug/msg00002.html ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2014-10/msg00034.html ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-12/msg00120.html ([email protected])
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1655.html ([email protected])
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1885.html ([email protected])
http://secunia.com/advisories/59903 ([email protected])
http://secunia.com/advisories/61965 ([email protected])
http://secunia.com/advisories/61966 ([email protected])
http://secunia.com/advisories/61991 ([email protected])
http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3057 ([email protected])
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2014:244 ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/17/7 Patch ([email protected])
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjan2015-2370101.html ([email protected])
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/ovmbulletinjul2016-3090546.html ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/70644 ([email protected])
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2389-1 Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=944444&action=diff ([email protected])
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1149084 ([email protected])
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT205030 Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT205031 Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://www.ncsc.nl/actueel/nieuwsberichten/kwetsbaarheid-ontdekt-in-libxml2.html ([email protected])
http://kb.juniper.net/InfoCenter/index?page=content&id=JSA10705 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Aug/msg00001.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Aug/msg00002.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2014-10/msg00034.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-12/msg00120.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1655.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1885.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://secunia.com/advisories/59903 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://secunia.com/advisories/61965 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://secunia.com/advisories/61966 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://secunia.com/advisories/61991 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3057 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2014:244 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/17/7 Patch (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjan2015-2370101.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/ovmbulletinjul2016-3090546.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/70644 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2389-1 Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=944444&action=diff (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1149084 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT205030 Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT205031 Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.ncsc.nl/actueel/nieuwsberichten/kwetsbaarheid-ontdekt-in-libxml2.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For xmlsoft's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.