CVE-2024-55549
Description
A flaw was found in libxslt. This vulnerability allows an attacker to trigger a use-after-free issue by excluding result prefixes.
Statement
This use-after-free vulnerability in libxslt marked as Important rather than a Moderate flaw, due to its potential to enable arbitrary code execution or cause denial-of-service conditions. The vulnerability arises from mishandled memory in the exclPrefixTab table, which references freed namespace URLs during stylesheet processing. When an included stylesheet has xsl:text as the root and is deleted, the associated namespace URLs remain referenced in exclPrefixTab despite being freed, leading to a classic use-after-free condition. Since libxslt is a core XML transformation library frequently used in complex server-side applications (e.g., web frameworks, document rendering), an attacker can craft malicious XSLT stylesheets to exploit this flaw, potentially gaining remote code execution within the application's process.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.
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 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | Local | Local |
| Attack Complexity | High | Low | High |
| Privileges Required | None | Low | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Changed | Unchanged | Changed |
| Confidentiality | None | High | None |
| Integrity Impact | High | High | High |
| Availability Impact | High | High | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity
Technical Impact: Modify Memory
The use of previously freed memory may corrupt valid data, if the memory area in question has been allocated and used properly elsewhere.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
If chunk consolidation occurs after the use of previously freed data, the process may crash when invalid data is used as chunk information.
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
Read operations on freed memory can sometimes leak sensitive information instead of causing a crash
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
If malicious data is entered before chunk consolidation can take place, it may be possible to take advantage of a write-what-where primitive to execute arbitrary code. If the newly allocated data happens to hold a class, in C++ for example, various function pointers may be scattered within the heap data. If one of these function pointers is overwritten with an address to valid shellcode, execution of arbitrary code can be achieved.
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