CVE-2024-40896

In libxml2 2.11 before 2.11.9, 2.12 before 2.12.9, and 2.13 before 2.13.3, the SAX parser can produce events for external entities even if custom SAX handlers try to override entity content (by setting "checked"). This makes classic XXE attacks possible.

Published: 2024-12-23 Last update: 2025-11-25 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-40896 is rated Moderate Risk (60.3/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.57%). 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-2024-40896

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 2025-12-18 0.45% 0.57% +0.12%
2 2025-11-21 1.15% 0.45% -0.71%
3 2025-11-18 — 1.15% —

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-40896

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.1 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.2 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-40896

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-40896

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2024-40896: 1 source package rows (libxml2); 33 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 33. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-40896
debian unimportant CVE-2024-40896 unimportant 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-2024-40896
redhat critical — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-40896
suse high CVE-2024-40896 severity important: SUSE including 336 source package names (13.2-9.1:libxml2-2-2.11.6-slfo.1.1_5.1, 2.1.3-4.37:libxml2-2-2.11.6-slfo.1.1_5.1, …), 816 product×package rows across 95 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (95 product lines)): Known Not Affected 386, Known Affected 231, Fixed 199. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-40896/
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-40896 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libxml2), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, released 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-40896

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-40896

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xmlsoft libxml2 >= 2.11.0, < 2.11.9 cpe:2.3:a:xmlsoft:libxml2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
xmlsoft libxml2 >= 2.12.0, < 2.12.9 cpe:2.3:a:xmlsoft:libxml2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
xmlsoft libxml2 >= 2.13.0, < 2.13.3 cpe:2.3:a:xmlsoft:libxml2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp hci_compute_node — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:hci_compute_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire_\&_hci_management_node — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire_\&_hci_management_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire_\&_hci_storage_node — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire_\&_hci_storage_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h300s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h300s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h500s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h500s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h700s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h700s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410c_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-40896

cvelogic Threat Intelligence