CVE-2025-59375
Description
A memory amplification vulnerability in libexpat allows attackers to trigger excessive dynamic memory allocations by submitting specially crafted XML input. A small input (~250 KiB) can cause the parser to allocate hundreds of megabytes, leading to denial-of-service (DoS) through memory exhaustion.
Statement
This issue is Important rather than Critical because, while it allows for significant resource exhaustion leading to denial-of-service (DoS), it does not enable arbitrary code execution, data leakage, or privilege escalation. The vulnerability stems from an uncontrolled memory amplification behavior in libexpat’s parser, where a relatively small XML payload can cause disproportionately large heap allocations. However, the flaw is limited in scope to service disruption and requires the attacker to submit a crafted XML document—something that can be mitigated with proper input validation and memory usage limits. Therefore, while the exploitability is high, the impact is confined to availability, not confidentiality or integrity, making it a high-severity but not critical flaw.
In Firefox and Thunderbird, where libexpat is a transitive userspace dependency, exploitation usually just crashes the application (app-level DoS), so it is classified as Moderate instead of Important.
Mitigation
To mitigate the issue, limit XML input size and complexity before parsing, and avoid accepting compressed or deeply nested XML. Use OS-level resource controls (like ulimit or setrlimit()) to cap memory usage, or run the parser in a sandboxed or isolated process with strict memory and CPU limits. This helps prevent denial-of-service by containing excessive resource consumption.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.3 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | Low | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:H/RL:T/RC:C
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
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