HighCVE-2022-40304

XMLSoft libxml2: Double Free (CVE-2022-40304)

Published 23.11.2022Last modified 14.10.2026Sources: Siemens ProductCERT, BSI, SingCERT, Debian, Red Hat, CVE.org

What is affected, what to do

An issue was discovered in libxml2 before 2.10.3. Certain invalid XML entity definitions can corrupt a hash table key, potentially leading to subsequent logic errors.

Update XMLSoft libxml2 to version 2.10.3, Apple iPadOS to version 15.7.2, Apple iPhone OS to version 15.7.2.

Affected: XMLSoft libxml2 lt *..2.10.3
Apple iPadOS lt *..15.7.2
Apple iPhone OS lt *..15.7.2
Apple macOS lt 11.0..11.7.2
Apple macOS lt 12.0..12.6.2
Apple tvOS lt *..16.2
Apple watchOS lt *..9.2
Fixed in: XMLSoft libxml2 2.10.3
Apple iPadOS 15.7.2
Apple iPhone OS 15.7.2
Apple macOS 11.7.2
Apple macOS 12.6.2
Apple tvOS 16.2
Apple watchOS 9.2

Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

Metrics

7.8

Priority

XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

Source: NVD, CVSS v3

7.8

CVSS v3

Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

Source: Siemens ProductCERT, BSI, SingCERT, Debian, Red Hat, CVE.org

5.8 %

EPSS score

Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.

Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 93.1

Show all metrics

Severity: High
Priority (0–325) The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first? Read in glossary: 110.11 Methodology
Exploit maturity An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack. Read in glossary: no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command. Read in glossary: 7.8 Methodology
CVSS v3 CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions. Read in glossary: 7.8
EPSS score The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“. Read in glossary: 5.8 %; Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking. Read in glossary: 93.1; Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
KEV status The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching. Read in glossary: —
Published: 23.11.2022

Detection rules

No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

Classification under NIS2 and CRA

Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

NIS2 NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management. Read in glossary: High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
CRA The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates. Read in glossary: From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security. Read in glossary: Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

Description

An issue was discovered in libxml2 before 2.10.3. Certain invalid XML entity definitions can corrupt a hash table key, potentially leading to subsequent logic errors. In one case, a double-free can be provoked.

Source: siemens_advisory, BSI CSAF, BSI WID Portal, CSA/SingCERT, Debian Security Advisories, redhat_csaf, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST)

Affected products

The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

Affected products
		Affected versions	Fixed in
netapp	active_iq_unified_manager	`—`	—
netapp	clustered_data_ontap	`—`	—
netapp	clustered_data_ontap_antivirus_connector	`—`	—
netapp	manageability_software_development_kit	`—`	—
netapp	smi-s_provider	`—`	—
netapp	snapmanager	`—`	—
xmlsoft	libxml2	`< 2.10.3`	`2.10.3`
Dell	ECS	`< 3.8.1.0`	`3.8.1.0`
Kyocera	Printer	`ECOSYS` `TASKalfa`	— —

Vendors and products

Affected operating systems

Affected operating systems

Linux	debian	libxml2	`bullseye`
macOS	apple	macos	—
Mobile	apple	iphone_os	—
Other	netapp	h300s_firmware	—
Other	netapp	h410c_firmware	—
Other	netapp	h410s_firmware	—
Other	netapp	h500s_firmware	—
Other	netapp	h700s_firmware	—
Other	apple	ipados	—
Other	apple	tvos	—
Other	apple	watchos	—

References & sources

gitlab.gnome.orgGNOME/libxml2/-/tags
gitlab.gnome.orgGNOME/libxml2/-/tags/v2.10.3
gitlab.gnome.orgGNOME/libxml2/-/commit/1b41ec4e9433b05bb0376be4725804c54ef1d80b
security.netapp.comadvisory/ntap-20221209-0003
support.apple.comkb/HT213534
support.apple.comkb/HT213533
support.apple.comkb/HT213531
support.apple.comkb/HT213536
support.apple.comkb/HT213535
seclists.org20221220 APPLE-SA-2022-12-13-2 iOS 15.7.2 and iPadOS 15.7.2Mailing list
seclists.org20221220 APPLE-SA-2022-12-13-6 macOS Big Sur 11.7.2Mailing list
seclists.org20221220 APPLE-SA-2022-12-13-7 tvOS 16.2Mailing list
seclists.org20221220 APPLE-SA-2022-12-13-5 macOS Monterey 12.6.2Mailing list
seclists.org20221220 APPLE-SA-2022-12-13-8 watchOS 9.2Mailing list
Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-398330.html
Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-556635.html
Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-625862.html
Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-337522.html
Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-341067.html
Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-769027.html

Changes to this CVE

Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

14.10.2026Record modifiedMITRE

New references:

and 8 more references

Show 41 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/21
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/24
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/25
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/26
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/27
Reference	added	—	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/1b41ec4e9433b05bb0376be4725804c54ef1d80b
Reference	added	—	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags
Reference	added	—	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags/v2.10.3
Reference	added	—	https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221209-0003/
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213531
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213533
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213534
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213535
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213536
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/21	—
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/24	—
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/25	—
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/26	—
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/27	—
Reference	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/1b41ec4e9433b05bb0376be4725804c54ef1d80b	—
Reference	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags	—
Reference	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags/v2.10.3	—
Reference	removed	https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221209-0003/	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213531	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213533	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213534	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213535	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213536	—
Reference type	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/21 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/24 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/25 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/26 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/1b41ec4e9433b05bb0376be4725804c54ef1d80b Types: Patch, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags Types: Release Notes, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags/v2.10.3 Types: Patch, Release Notes, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221209-0003/ Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213531 Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213533 Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213534 Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213535 Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213536 Types: Third Party Advisory	—

Source identifier: cve@mitre.org

14.10.2026Record modifiedCVE Program

New references:

and 8 more references

Show 41 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/21
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/24
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/25
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/26
Reference	added	—	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/27
Reference	added	—	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/1b41ec4e9433b05bb0376be4725804c54ef1d80b
Reference	added	—	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags
Reference	added	—	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags/v2.10.3
Reference	added	—	https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221209-0003/
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213531
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213533
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213534
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213535
Reference	added	—	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213536
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/21	—
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/24	—
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/25	—
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/26	—
Reference	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/27	—
Reference	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/1b41ec4e9433b05bb0376be4725804c54ef1d80b	—
Reference	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags	—
Reference	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags/v2.10.3	—
Reference	removed	https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221209-0003/	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213531	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213533	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213534	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213535	—
Reference	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213536	—
Reference type	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/21 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/24 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/25 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/26 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/1b41ec4e9433b05bb0376be4725804c54ef1d80b Types: Patch, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags Types: Release Notes, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/tags/v2.10.3 Types: Patch, Release Notes, Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221209-0003/ Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213531 Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213533 Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213534 Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213535 Types: Third Party Advisory	—
Reference type	removed	https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213536 Types: Third Party Advisory	—

Source identifier: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

14.10.2026Record modifiedSiemens ADP

New references:

and 2 more references

Show 7 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Affected versions (publisher)	added	—	New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2022/40xxx/CVE-2022-40304.json">CVE-2022-40304</a>
Reference	added	—	https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-337522.html
Reference	added	—	https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-341067.html
Reference	added	—	https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html
Reference	added	—	https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-556635.html
Reference	added	—	https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-625862.html
Reference	added	—	https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-769027.html

Source identifier: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e

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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2022-40304"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2022-40304.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2022-40304 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>