CVE-2023-29469

An 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).

Published: 2023-04-24 Last update: 2025-02-04 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-29469 is rated Moderate Risk (47.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.01%). 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-2023-29469

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 0.16% 1.01% +0.86%
2 2026-05-12 0.06% 0.16% +0.09%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-29469

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]
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 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-29469

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-29469

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-29469: 3 source package rows (libxml2, libxml2.13, qt5-qtwebengine); 82 state rows across 14 repos (3.17-community, 3.17-main, 3.18-community, 3.18-main, 3.19-community, 3.19-main, 3.20-community, 3.20-main, 3.21-community, 3.21-main, 3.22-community, 3.22-main, edge-community, edge-main); fixed 15, open 67. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-29469
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-29469 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-2023-29469
gentoo normal CVE-2023-29469: 1 GLSA(s) (202402-11), 1 atom(s) (dev-libs/libxml2); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-29469
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-29469
suse medium CVE-2023-29469 severity moderate: SUSE including 375 source package names (0.23.0.3.2.423:libxml2-2-2.9.7-150000.3.57.1, 1.10.1.16.4.5.392:libxml2-2-2.9.7-150000.3.57.1, …), 788 product×package rows across 242 product lines (Container bci/bci-init, Container bci/dotnet-aspnet, … (242 product lines)): Fixed 602, Known Affected 147, Known Not Affected 39. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-29469/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-29469 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libxml2), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-29469

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-29469

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xmlsoft libxml2 < 2.10.4 cpe:2.3:a:xmlsoft:libxml2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-29469

cvelogic Threat Intelligence