CVE-2018-14404
libxml2: NULL pointer dereference in xmlXPathCompOpEval() function in xpath.c
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.0
Review impact separately from score.
Published · June 18, 2018
Updated · September 21, 2026
Description
A null pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the xpath.c:xmlXPathCompOpEval() function of libxml2 when parsing invalid XPath expression. Applications processing untrusted XSL format inputs with the use of libxml2 library may be vulnerable to denial of service attack due to crash of the application.
Statement
This issue affects the versions of libxml2 as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 is now in Extended Life Phase of the support and maintenance life cycle. This issue is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates. For additional information, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/.
This issue affects the versions of libxml2 as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is now in Maintenance Support 2 Phase of the support and maintenance life cycle. This has been rated as having a security impact of Moderate, and is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates. For additional information, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/.
This issue affects the versions of libxml2 as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having a security impact of Moderate. A future update may address this issue. For additional information, refer to the Issue Severity Classification: https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.0 · 6.5CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference