Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity in expat - CVE-2026-76641

 

Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity in expat - CVE-2026-76641

Published: September 15, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU149947
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4: 8.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-76641
CWE-ID: CWE-407
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to an inefficient algorithm in attribute isCdata lookups when parsing crafted XML input. A remote attacker can submit moderately sized crafted XML input to cause a denial of service.

A compression layer around XML can significantly reduce the minimum attack payload size.


Affected software

expat
openEuler
expat-help
expat-devel
expat-debugsource
expat-debuginfo
expat

How to mitigate CVE-2026-76641

Install security update from vendor's website.

expat - update to 2.8.4
expat-help - addressed in versions 2.2.9-33, 2.4.1-31, 2.5.0-27, 2.8.1-8
expat-devel - addressed in versions 2.2.9-33, 2.4.1-31, 2.5.0-27, 2.8.1-8
expat-debugsource - addressed in versions 2.2.9-33, 2.4.1-31, 2.5.0-27, 2.8.1-8
expat-debuginfo - addressed in versions 2.2.9-33, 2.4.1-31, 2.5.0-27, 2.8.1-8
expat - addressed in versions 2.2.9-33, 2.4.1-31, 2.5.0-27, 2.8.1-8

External References

Related Security Bulletins