CVE-2016-2073

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 2.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2016-02-12 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-119

Description

The htmlParseNameComplex function in HTMLparser.c in libxml2 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) via a crafted XML document.

Affected products

Canonical Ubuntu Linux: 12.04, 14.04, 15.10, 16.04
Debian Linux: 8.0
xmlsoft libxml2: before 2.9.4 — fixed in 2.9.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: xmlsoft libxml2 2.9.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/01/25/6
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/01/26/7
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjul2016-3090568.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/85267
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1035011
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2994-1
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-37
https://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3593
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/01/25/6
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/01/26/7
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjul2016-3090568.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/85267

Get alerted when CVE-2016-2073 or the next vulnerability affects your stack