CVE-2015-8806

dict.c in libxml2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer over-read and application crash) via an unexpected character immediately after the "<!DOCTYPE html" substring in a crafted HTML document.

Published: 2016-04-13 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2015-8806 is rated Moderate Risk (61.7/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 4.96%, 91th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2015-8806

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 2026-07-02 5.12% 4.96% -0.16%
2 2026-06-15 8.57% 5.12% -3.44%
3 2026-05-13 8.57%

Full EPSS history (20 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2015-8806

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/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:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2015-8806

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2015-8806

GHSA-7hp2-xwpj-95jq · Severity: high · Ecosystem: rubygems — Denial of service or RCE from libxml2 and libxslt

OS Trackers for CVE-2015-8806

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2015-8806 not yet assigned 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-2015-8806
gentoo normal CVE-2015-8806: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-37), 1 atom(s) (dev-libs/libxml2); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2015-8806
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8806
suse medium CVE-2015-8806 severity moderate: SUSE including 15 source package names (libxml2-2-2.9.1-24.1, libxml2-2-32bit-2.9.1-24.1, …), 72 product×package rows across 19 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1, … (19 product lines)): Fixed 72. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8806/
ubuntu low CVE-2015-8806 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libxml2), 7 status rows across 7 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): released 4, not-affected 2, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-8806

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2015-8806

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xmlsoft libxml2 < 2.9.4 cpe:2.3:a:xmlsoft:libxml2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 15.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:15.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2015-8806

cvelogic Threat Intelligence