CVE-2025-32414
Description
A flaw was found in libxml2. This vulnerability allows out-of-bounds memory access due to incorrect handling of return values in xmlPythonFileRead and xmlPythonFileReadRaw. This is caused by a mismatch between the length of the file in bytes vs the length in characters, as unicode characters can occupy up to 4 bytes per character.
Statement
This bug affects parsing of text streams using:
- the Python bindings (pending deprecation: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/issues/891)
- the libxml2 SAX driver drv_libxml2,
- the XML Reader API
Parsing of binary streams is not affected by this vulnerability.
The vulnerability exists in the libxml2 package the bug arises because of a mismatch between characters vs. bytes handling: functions xmlPythonFileRead and xmlPythonFileReadRaw may compute a length incorrectly (mistaking character count for byte count), but for a successful exploitation of this bug requires local access, on top of that the path to exploitation is non trivial, where handling of python binding's and specific input handling of bytes and characters are required which makes this outside the scope of an attacker and increases the attack complexity, for these reasons this has been marked as moderate by Red Hat.
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 | 5.6 | 7.5 | 5.6 |
| Attack Vector | Local | Network | Local |
| Attack Complexity | High | Low | High |
| Privileges Required | None | None | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Changed | Unchanged | Changed |
| Confidentiality | Low | None | Low |
| Integrity Impact | Low | None | Low |
| Availability Impact | Low | High | Low |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation
Attack Vector is Local because the flaw is in the xmlPythonFileReadRaw and xmlPythonFileRead which are not bound to the network.
Attack Complexity is High because the flaw can only be triggered by plain text files, not binary ones.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity,Other
Technical Impact: Unexpected State; Alter Execution Logic
This weakness could place the system in a state that could lead unexpected logic to be executed or other unintended behaviors.
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