MEDIUM
libxml2: billion laughs DoS attack
Published Sep 2, 2008
6.5
MEDIUMCVSS 3.1
EPSS 1.62%
Description
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."
Affected products
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
6.5 MEDIUM NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Privileges Required None
User Interaction Required
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact None
Integrity Impact None
Availability Impact High
No CVSS v3.0 score for this CVE.
9.3 HIGH NVD
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Access Vector Network
Access Complexity Medium
Authentication None
Confidentiality Impact Complete
Integrity Impact Complete
Availability Impact Complete
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
1.62% 0.01619
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
EPSS probability 0.01619
Score over time
2022–2026- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (14 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 1.62% (0.01619) | 75.18th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 1.62% (0.01619) | 72.85th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Dec 18, 2025 | 0.58% (0.00579) | 68.15th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 29, 2025 | 1.67% (0.01671) | 70.67th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.63% (0.00630) | 68.54th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.37% (0.00368) | 73.41th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Feb 8, 2024 | 0.37% (0.00368) | 71.77th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Feb 6, 2024 | 0.37% (0.00368) | 69.76th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Feb 3, 2024 | 0.38% (0.00381) | 70.27th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.20% (0.00197) | 55.79th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 55.18th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Sep 17, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 53.57th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 51.54th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 29.61th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
Weaknesses (1)
References (10)
- http://mail.gnome.org/archives/xml/2008-August/msg00034.html mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTMailing ListPatch
- http://secunia.com/advisories/31868 third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIABroken Link
- http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/65843/time_to_upgrade_libxml2 x_refsource_MISCIssue Tracking
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0886.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATBroken Link
- http://www.stylusstudio.com/xmldev/200302/post20020.html mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTBroken Link
- http://xmlsoft.org/news.html x_refsource_MISCRelease Notes
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2003-1564 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=461107 Issue Tracking
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2003-1564
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-1564
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| http://mail.gnome.org/archives/xml/2008-August/msg00034.html | mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTMailing ListPatch | |
| http://secunia.com/advisories/31868 | third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIABroken Link | |
| http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/65843/time_to_upgrade_libxml2 | x_refsource_MISCIssue Tracking | |
| http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0886.html | vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATBroken Link | |
| http://www.stylusstudio.com/xmldev/200302/post20020.html | mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTBroken Link | |
| http://xmlsoft.org/news.html | x_refsource_MISCRelease Notes | |
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2003-1564 | Vendor Advisory | |
| https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=461107 | Issue Tracking | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2003-1564 | ||
| https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-1564 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.
Sources
CVE.org / MITRE
Status PUBLISHED
Assigner mitre
Published Sep 2, 2008
Updated Aug 8, 2024
Reserved Sep 2, 2008
Link CVE-2003-1564
CISA Vulnrichment
Updated n/a