libxml2: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code

Background

libxml2 is the XML C parser and toolkit developed for the Gnome project.

Description

The “xmlXPtrEvalXPtrPart()” function in xpointer.c contains an off-by-one error.

Impact

A remote attacker could entice a user or automated system to open a specially crafted XML document with an application using libxml2, possibly resulting in execution of arbitrary code or a Denial of Service condition.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All libxml2 users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-libs/libxml2-2.8.0_rc1"