libexpat before commit 13c5f63 contains a heap buffer over-read vulnerability in xmlparse.c

Why it is Amber

• CVSS 8.2 high
• Remotely exploitable without logging in

References

• https://github.com/libexpat/libexpat/commit/13c5f63a7f1c52c2feee3b16a1134d4fb68e9ea0
• https://github.com/libexpat/libexpat/pull/1393
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/libexpat-heap-buffer-over-read-in-xmlparse-c-via-xml-parsebuffer

Original description

libexpat before commit 13c5f63 contains a heap buffer over-read vulnerability in xmlparse.c. XML_ParseBuffer advances the parse buffer end with parser->m_bufferEnd += len using a caller-supplied length that is not validated against the allocated buffer size, so repeated XML_ParseBuffer calls move m_bufferEnd past the end of the heap allocation and subsequent parsing reads out of bounds. Reaching this path requires a parse buffer to already be present; otherwise XML_ParseBuffer returns XML_ERROR_NO_BUFFER. A buffer is present after a prior call to XML_GetBuffer, either directly (the common case) or indirectly through a prior XML_Parse call that allocates the buffer internally. The over-read discloses adjacent heap memory to the calling application, recovering heap pointers, libc function pointers, and code pointers sufficient to defeat ASLR and build further exploitation primitives.