Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2023-29469
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn issue was discovered in libxml2 before 2.10.4. When hashing empty dict strings in a crafted XML document, xmlDictComputeFastKey in dict.c can produce non-deterministic values, leading to various logic and memory errors, such as a double free. This behavior occurs because there is an attempt to use the first byte of an empty string, and any value is possible (not solely the '\0' value).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA memory corruption vulnerability exists in libxml2 before 2.10.4 where the xmlDictComputeFastKey function in dict.c produces non-deterministic hash values when processing empty strings in crafted XML documents. This occurs because the function attempts to read the first byte of an empty string without proper bounds checking, leading to undefined behavior that can manifest as double-free and other memory errors.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 10.0< 2.10.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed libxml2 versionRun 'xml2 --version' or check the library file version with 'dpkg -l | grep libxml2' on Debian systems, or 'rpm -q libxml2' on RHEL-based systemsAffected if The installed version is lower than 2.10.4 or the version cannot be determined (indicating an older package)
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Find libxml2 library fileLocate the shared library with 'find /usr -name "libxml2.so*" 2>/dev/null' and check its version info with 'file' or 'readelf -V'Affected if The library file exists and links to a version older than 2.10.4
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Identify applications using libxml2Search for linked binaries with 'ldd $(which some-app) 2>/dev/null | grep xml2' or check package dependencies for XML-parsing applicationsAffected if Any application that parses XML documents is installed and uses the vulnerable library version
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Determine XML input sourceReview application configurations or logs to identify if XML documents from external or untrusted sources are processedAffected if The system processes XML input from users, network sources, or untrusted files using libxml2-based applications
You are affected if libxml2 version is below 2.10.4 AND any application on the system processes XML documents using the vulnerable library
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped2.10.4
Upgrade libxml2 to version 2.10.4 or later to patch the vulnerability. For systems where immediate upgrading is not feasible, ensure untrusted XML input is validated before processing.
libxml2 >= 2.10.4
- Check the current installed version of libxml2: dpkg -l | grep libxml2 or xml2 --version
- Update the package repository: apt-get update
- Upgrade libxml2 to the fixed version: apt-get install libxml2 (or apt-get install libxml2-utils)
- Verify the installation succeeded and the version is 2.10.4 or later: xml2 --version
- If running applications that use libxml2, restart them to load the updated library
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,096.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-29469 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-29469 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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