USN-4784-1: Xerces-C++ vulnerabilities

15 March 2021

Several security issues were fixed in Xerces-C++.

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Releases

Packages

  • xerces-c - Validating XML parser written in a portable subset of C++

Details

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ XML Parser mishandles certain kinds of
external DTD references, resulting in a user-after-free. An attacker could
use this vulnerability to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly
execute arbitrary code. This issue affected only Ubuntu 16.04 ESM.
(CVE-2016-2099)

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ XML Parser fails to successfully parse a
DTD that is too deeply nested. An unauthenticated attacker could use this
vulnerability to cause a denial of service. This issue affected only Ubuntu
16.04 ESM. (CVE-2016-4463)

It was discovered that Xerces-C++ mishandles certain kinds of external DTD
references, resulting in dereference of a NULL pointer. An attacker could
use this vulnerability to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2017-12627)

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Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

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Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 18.04
Ubuntu 16.04

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

References

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Further reading