CVE-2021-4249 | xml-conduit DOCTYPE Entity Expansion Parse.hs infinite loop

A vulnerability was found in xml-conduit. It has been classified as problematic. Affected is an unknown function of the file xml-conduit/src/Text/XML/Stream/Parse.hs of the component DOCTYPE Entity Expansion Handler. The manipulation leads to infinite loop. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. Upgrading to version 1.9.1.0 is able to address this issue. The name of the patch is 4be1021791dcdee8b164d239433a2043dc0939ea. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-216204.

Published: 2022-12-18 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-4249 is rated Moderate Risk (42.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.71%). 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-2021-4249

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 2025-12-23 0.48% 0.71% +0.23%
2 2025-12-19 0.13% 0.48% +0.35%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.13% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-4249

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 2.8 1.4 [email protected]
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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-4249

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-4249

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-4249 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (haskell-xml-conduit), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-4249
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-4249 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (haskell-xml-conduit), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 7, needed 4, ignored 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-4249

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-4249

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
haskell xml-conduit < 1.9.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:haskell:xml-conduit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-4249

cvelogic Threat Intelligence