Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2015-5523

The ParseValue function in lexer.c in tidy before 4.9.31 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via vectors involving multiple whitespace characters before an empty href, which triggers a large memory allocation.

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2015-5523 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 6 products from canonical, from debian, from apple and 3 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2015, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2015-08-11T14:59:15.430

Last Modified

2025-04-12T10:46:40.837

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 4.3 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

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

Exploitability Score

8.6

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-119

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	15.04	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	7.0	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	8.0	Yes
Operating System	apple	iphone_os	≤ 8.2	Yes
Operating System	apple	mac_os_x	≤ 10.6.8	Yes
Operating System	apple	watchos	≤ 1.0.1	Yes
Application	htacg	tidy	≤ 4.9.30	Yes

References

http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Sep/msg00001.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Sep/msg00005.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Sep/msg00008.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.debian.org/security/2015/dsa-3309 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/06/04/2 Exploit ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/07/13/7 Exploit ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/07/15/3 ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/75037 ([email protected])
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033703 ([email protected])
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2695-1 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://github.com/htacg/tidy-html5/issues/217#issuecomment-108565501 Exploit ([email protected])
https://support.apple.com/HT205212 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://support.apple.com/HT205213 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://support.apple.com/HT205267 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Sep/msg00001.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Sep/msg00005.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Sep/msg00008.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.debian.org/security/2015/dsa-3309 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/06/04/2 Exploit (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/07/13/7 Exploit (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/07/15/3 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/75037 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033703 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2695-1 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://github.com/htacg/tidy-html5/issues/217#issuecomment-108565501 Exploit (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://support.apple.com/HT205212 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://support.apple.com/HT205213 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://support.apple.com/HT205267 Third Party Advisory (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 canonical'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.