# CVE-2019-20201: Denial of service in n/a

> Attackers can cause a denial of service via infinite loops and memory exhaustion in ezXML by sending crafted XML entities.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 31 Dec 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2019-20201, GHSA-h6m3-6r8w-2qqp, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-20201

## What is CVE-2019-20201?

CVE-2019-20201 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 31 Dec 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in ezXML 0.8.3 through 0.8.6. The ezxml_parse_* functions mishandle XML entities, leading to an infinite loop in which memory allocations occur.

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition), CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-20201?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ezxml Project Ezxml.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-20201?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2019-20201 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20201 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2021-26220](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-26220/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2021-26221](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-26221/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2021-26222](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-26222/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2019-20006](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20006/): Use after free in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2022-30045](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-30045/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-20201 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-20201 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 31 Dec 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20201 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-2019-20201/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20201/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-20201
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-20201
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-20201

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20201/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.