CVE-2015-9541Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Denial of service via unbounded entity expansion

Published Jan 24, 2020 · Updated Aug 6, 2024

XML entity expansion in QXmlStreamReader in Qt 5.14 and earlier allows remote attackers to exhaust memory via crafted SVG data. QXmlStreamReader recursively substitutes nested DTD entity references without an expansion limit, causing parsed text to grow exponentially. Exploitation requires an application to parse attacker-controlled SVG or XML content and can exhaust memory, hanging or crashing that application.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability2.49%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

XML entity expansion in QXmlStreamReader in Qt 5.14 and earlier allows remote attackers to exhaust memory via crafted SVG data. QXmlStreamReader recursively substitutes nested DTD entity references without an expansion limit, causing parsed text to grow exponentially. Exploitation requires an application to parse attacker-controlled SVG or XML content and can exhaust memory, hanging or crashing that application.

The record

CVE
CVE-2015-9541
Published
Jan 24, 2020
Updated
Aug 6, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-776, CAPEC-197, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 24, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 6, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

5.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-776Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion')
CAPEC-197Exponential Data Expansion
T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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