CVE-2026-41080
Description
A flaw was found in libexpat. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by providing a specially crafted XML document that leverages insufficient entropy in the hash function. This can lead to hash flooding, a type of Denial of Service (DoS) attack, where the system becomes unresponsive or crashes due to excessive resource consumption.
Statement
This Low impact denial of service flaw in libexpat could allow a remote attacker to cause the program consuming libexpat to become unresponsive or crash. This vulnerability requires the processing of a specially crafted XML document, which could lead to excessive resource consumption due to hash flooding.
Mitigation
Applications that process untrusted XML documents using libexpat should implement robust input validation to filter out malicious XML structures. Restricting access to services that process untrusted XML can also reduce the attack surface. If a service is affected, restarting it may be required after implementing input validation or access restrictions.
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 | 3.7 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | Low | N/A | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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:H/I:N/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Access Control,Other
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other
An attacker could guess the random numbers generated and could gain unauthorized access to a system if the random numbers are used for authentication and authorization.
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