Summary
Update bundled libxml2 to v2.10.3 to resolve multiple CVEs
Nokogiri v1.13.9 upgrades the packaged version of its dependency libxml2 to v2.10.3 from v2.9.14.
libxml2 v2.10.3 addresses the following known vulnerabilities:
Please note that this advisory only applies to the CRuby implementation of Nokogiri < 1.13.9, and only if the packaged libraries are being used. If you've overridden defaults at installation time to use system libraries instead of packaged libraries, you should instead pay attention to your distro's libxml2 release announcements.
Mitigation
Upgrade to Nokogiri >= 1.13.9.
Users who are unable to upgrade Nokogiri may also choose a more complicated mitigation: compile and link Nokogiri against external libraries libxml2 >= 2.10.3 which will also address these same issues.
libxml2 CVE-2022-2309
- CVSS3 score: Under evaluation
- Type: Denial of service
- Description: NULL Pointer Dereference allows attackers to cause a denial of service (or application crash). This only applies when lxml is used together with libxml2 2.9.10 through 2.9.14. libxml2 2.9.9 and earlier are not affected. It allows triggering crashes through forged input data, given a vulnerable code sequence in the application. The vulnerability is caused by the iterwalk function (also used by the canonicalize function). Such code shouldn't be in wide-spread use, given that parsing + iterwalk would usually be replaced with the more efficient iterparse function. However, an XML converter that serialises to C14N would also be vulnerable, for example, and there are legitimate use cases for this code sequence. If untrusted input is received (also remotely) and processed via iterwalk function, a crash can be triggered.
Nokogiri maintainers investigated at #2620 and determined this CVE does not affect Nokogiri users.
libxml2 CVE-2022-40304
- CVSS3 score: Unspecified upstream
- Type: Data corruption, denial of service
- Description: When an entity reference cycle is detected, the entity content is cleared by setting its first byte to zero. But the entity content might be allocated from a dict. In this case, the dict entry becomes corrupted leading to all kinds of logic errors, including memory errors like double-frees.
See https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/644a89e080bced793295f61f18aac8cfad6bece2
libxml2 CVE-2022-40303
- CVSS3 score: Unspecified upstream
- Type: Integer overflow
- Description: Integer overflows with XML_PARSE_HUGE
See https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/commit/c846986356fc149915a74972bf198abc266bc2c0
References
Impact
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW? GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW is a medium-severity security vulnerability in nokogiri (rubygems), affecting versions < 1.13.9. It is fixed in 1.13.9.
- Which versions of nokogiri are affected by GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW? nokogiri (rubygems) versions < 1.13.9 is affected.
- Is there a fix for GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW? Yes. GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW is fixed in 1.13.9. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix GHSA-2QC6-MCVW-92CW? Upgrade
nokogirito 1.13.9 or later.