CVE-2025-66578 | robrichards/xmlseclibs has an Libxml2 Canonicalization error which can bypass Digest/Signature validation

Exp

xmlseclibs is a library written in PHP for working with XML Encryption and Signatures. Versions 3.1.3 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability due to a flaw in the libxml2 canonicalization process during document transformation. When libxml2’s canonicalization is invoked on an invalid XML input, it may return an empty string rather than a canonicalized node. xmlseclibs then proceeds to compute the DigestValue over this empty string, treating it as if canonicalization succeeded. This issue is fixed in version 3.1.4. Workarounds include treating canonicalization failures (exceptions or nil/empty outputs) as fatal and aborting validation, and/or adding explicit checks to reject when canonicalize returns nil/empty or raises errors.

Published: 2025-12-09 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-66578 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.22%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2025-66578

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-66578

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 0.04% 0.22% +0.18%
2 2026-05-06 0.06% 0.04% -0.02%
3 2025-12-15 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-66578

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.2 4.7 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N 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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-66578

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-66578

GHSA-c4cc-x928-vjw9 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: composer — robrichards/xmlseclibs has an Libxml2 Canonicalization error which can bypass Digest/Signature validation

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-66578

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xmlseclibs_project xmlseclibs < 3.1.4 cpe:2.3:a:xmlseclibs_project:xmlseclibs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-66578

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