CVE-2026-0990Uncontrolled Recursion in Libxml2

Severity
5.9MEDIUMNVD
OSV4.8
EPSS
0.1%
top 82.56%
CISA KEV
Not in KEV
Exploit
No known exploits
Timeline
PublishedJan 15
Latest updateJan 22

Description

A flaw was found in libxml2, an XML parsing library. This uncontrolled recursion vulnerability occurs in the xmlCatalogXMLResolveURI function when an XML catalog contains a delegate URI entry that references itself. A remote attacker could exploit this configuration-dependent issue by providing a specially crafted XML catalog, leading to infinite recursion and call stack exhaustion. This ultimately results in a segmentation fault, causing a Denial of Service (DoS) by crashing affected applicatio

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitability: 2.2 | Impact: 3.6

Affected Packages3 packages

debiandebian/libxml2< libxml2 2.15.2+dfsg-0.1 (forky)
Debianxmlsoft/libxml2< 2.15.2+dfsg-0.1
Ubuntuxmlsoft/libxml2< 2.9.13+dfsg-1ubuntu0.11+6

🔴Vulnerability Details

3
OSV
libxml2 vulnerabilities2026-01-22
OSV
CVE-2026-0990: A flaw was found in libxml2, an XML parsing library2026-01-15
GHSA
GHSA-2j3v-cxmf-cmp7: A flaw was found in libxml2, an XML parsing library2026-01-15

📋Vendor Advisories

3
Ubuntu
libxml2 vulnerabilities2026-01-22
Red Hat
libxml2: libxml2: Denial of Service via uncontrolled recursion in XML catalog processing2026-01-15
Debian
CVE-2026-0990: libxml2 - A flaw was found in libxml2, an XML parsing library. This uncontrolled recursion...2026

🕵️Threat Intelligence

1
Wiz
CVE-2026-0990 Impact, Exploitability, and Mitigation Steps | Wiz