# CVE-2023-52425: Denial of service in n/a

> Attackers can cause resource exhaustion and denial of service in applications using libexpat by sending large tokens requiring multiple buffer fills.

- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Feb 2024
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2023-52425, ALSA-2024:1615, ALSA-2024:4259, AZL-34207, AZL-34683, BELL-CVE-2023-52425, CLEANSTART-2026-UE62573, CLSA-2024-1714065693, CLSA-2024-1714727652, CLSA-2024-1714727824, CLSA-2026-1776776980, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52425, DLA-3783-1, ECHO-1ada-03b1-9c53, GHSA-gh68-jm46-84rf, JLSEC-2025-60, OESA-2024-1741, RHSA-2024:1615, RHSA-2024:2575, RHSA-2024:2839, RHSA-2024:4259, RLSA-2024:1615, RLSA-2024:4259, SUSE-SU-2024:1657-1, SUSE-SU-2024:1698-1, SUSE-SU-2024:3004-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52425, openSUSE-SU-2024:13883-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:13892-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:13955-1, openSUSE-SU-2025:15212-1

## What is CVE-2023-52425?

CVE-2023-52425 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Libexpat Project Libexpat, published on 4 Feb 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

libexpat through 2.5.0 allows a denial of service (resource consumption) because many full reparsings are required in the case of a large token for which multiple buffer fills are needed.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52425?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `expat` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.2.5-11.el8_9.1 |
| `expat-devel` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.2.5-11.el8_9.1 |
| `xmlrpc-c` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-c++` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-client` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-client++` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-devel` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `expat` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_9.1 |
| `expat-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_9.1 |
| `expat-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_9.1 |
| `expat-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_9.1 |
| `xmlrpc-c` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-apps-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-c++-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-client` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-client++-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-client-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-apps-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-c++` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-c++-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-client++` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-client++-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-client-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `xmlrpc-c-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `expat` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.6::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-8.el8_6.5 |
| `expat-debuginfo` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.6::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-8.el8_6.5 |
| `expat-debugsource` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.6::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-8.el8_6.5 |
| `expat-devel` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.6::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-8.el8_6.5 |
| `expat` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.8::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_8.2 |
| `expat-debuginfo` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.8::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_8.2 |
| `expat-debugsource` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.8::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_8.2 |
| `expat-devel` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.8::baseos | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_8.2 |
| `expat` | Rocky Linux:8 | All versions | 0:2.2.5-11.el8_9.1 |
| `xmlrpc-c` | Rocky Linux:8 | All versions | 0:1.51.0-9.el8_10 |
| `python3` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Web and Scripting 12 | All versions | 3.4.10-25.127.1 |
| `python3-base` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Web and Scripting 12 | All versions | 3.4.10-25.127.1 |

Products: Libexpat Project Libexpat.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52425?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-52425 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52425 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Libexpat Project Libexpat

- [CVE-2024-45490](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-45490/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-66046](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-66046/): Expat Denial of Service via storeAtts() Quadratic Complexity (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2021-46143](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46143/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2017-11742](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11742/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2025-59375](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-59375/): Denial of service in libexpat (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52425 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52425 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Libexpat Project Libexpat, published on 4 Feb 2024. 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-2023-52425 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Libexpat Project Libexpat. 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-2023-52425/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52425/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52425
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52425
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52425

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52425/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.