# CVE-2011-3288: XML external entity in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service via crafted XML documents exploiting improper entity expansion in Cisco Unified Presence.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 6 Oct 2011
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-66wf-g54m-27m7

## What is CVE-2011-3288?

CVE-2011-3288 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 6 Oct 2011. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Cisco Unified Presence before 8.5(4) does not properly detect recursion during entity expansion, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption, and process crash) via a crafted XML document containing a large number of nested entity references, aka Bug IDs CSCtq89842 and CSCtq88547, a similar issue to CVE-2003-1564.

Weakness: CWE-776 (Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-3288?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Unified Presence.

## How do I fix CVE-2011-3288?

No fix has been published for CVE-2011-3288 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2011-3288 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-3288 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2008-1158](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1158/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2008-1740](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1740/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2008-1741](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1741/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2013-1197](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1197/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2011-3288 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2011-3288 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 6 Oct 2011. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-3288 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3288/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3288/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-3288
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-3288
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2011-3288

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3288/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.