CVE-2008-3281

libxml2 2.6.32 and earlier does not properly detect recursion during entity expansion in an attribute value, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption) via a crafted XML document.

Published: 2008-08-27 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2008-3281 is rated Moderate Risk (56.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.51%). EPSS rose +1.70% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2008-3281

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.80% 2.51% +1.70%
2 2025-05-16 0.53% 0.80% +0.27%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.53% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2008-3281

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2008-3281

OS Trackers for CVE-2008-3281

vendor priority summary link
debian medium CVE-2008-3281 medium priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libxml2), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2008-3281
gentoo normal CVE-2008-3281: 1 GLSA(s) (200812-06), 1 atom(s) (dev-libs/libxml2); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2008-3281
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-3281
ubuntu medium CVE-2008-3281 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libxml2), 5 status rows across 5 suites (dapper, feisty, gutsy, hardy, upstream): released 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2008-3281

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2008-3281

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xmlsoft libxml2 <= 2.6.32 cpe:2.3:a:xmlsoft:libxml2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple safari < 4.0 cpe:2.3:a:apple:safari:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple iphone_os >= 1.0.0, < 3.0 cpe:2.3:o:apple:iphone_os:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 9 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 6.06 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:6.06:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 7.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:7.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 7.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:7.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 8.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:8.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 4.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 3.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 4.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 4.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:4.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 5.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:5.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 2.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 3.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 4.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 2.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 3.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 4.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esx 2.5.4 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esx:2.5.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esx 2.5.5 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esx:2.5.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esx 3.0.2 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esx:3.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esx 3.0.3 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esx:3.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2008-3281

URL Tags
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2009/Jun/msg00005.html Mailing List
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2009/jun/msg00002.html Broken Link Mailing List
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2008-09/msg00004.html Mailing List
http://lists.vmware.com/pipermail/security-announce/2008/000039.html Broken Link
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/xml/2008-August/msg00034.html Mailing List Patch
http://secunia.com/advisories/31558 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/31566 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/31590 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/31728 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/31748 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/31855 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/31982 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/32488 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/32807 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/32974 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/35379 Broken Link
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200812-06.xml Third Party Advisory
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3613 Third Party Advisory
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3639 Third Party Advisory
http://svn.gnome.org/viewvc/libxml2?view=revision&revision=3772 Broken Link
http://wiki.rpath.com/Advisories:rPSA-2008-0325 Broken Link
http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1631 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:180 Broken Link
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:192 Broken Link
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/497962/100/0/threaded Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/30783 Broken Link Patch Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1020728 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-640-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2008-0017.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2419 Broken Link
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2843 Broken Link
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2971 Broken Link
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1522 Broken Link
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1621 Broken Link
http://xmlsoft.org/news.html Release Notes
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=458086 Issue Tracking
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6496 Broken Link
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A9812 Broken Link
https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2008-0836.html Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/644-1/ Broken Link
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-September/msg00261.html Mailing List
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-September/msg00347.html Mailing List
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