# CVE-2013-4549: XML external entity in n/a

> Attackers can cause denial of service via memory consumption in Qt's XML parser using XML Entity Expansion attacks.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Dec 2013
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2013-4549, GHSA-73gj-v8wr-fjfj, MGASA-2014-0009, MGASA-2014-0115, UBUNTU-CVE-2013-4549

## What is CVE-2013-4549?

CVE-2013-4549 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Qt Qt, published on 23 Dec 2013. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

QXmlSimpleReader in Qt before 5.2 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via an XML Entity Expansion (XEE) attack.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-4549?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Digia Qt, Qt Qt.

## How do I fix CVE-2013-4549?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2013-4549 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-4549 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Qt Qt

- [CVE-2010-1766](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-1766/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2015-1858](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1858/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2015-1859](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1859/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2015-1860](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1860/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2015-0295](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-0295/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 5.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2013-4549 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2013-4549 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Qt Qt, published on 23 Dec 2013. 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-2013-4549 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Qt Qt. 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-2013-4549/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4549/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-4549
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4549
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2013-4549

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4549/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.