Service interruption via whole-buffer attribute matching
Published May 16, 2024 · Updated Nov 3, 2025
Denial of service in REXML before 3.2.7 allows attackers to prolong XML parsing through attributes containing many > characters. BaseParser#parse_attributes matched an entire quoted value with a non-greedy regular expression against buffered input instead of consuming it incrementally. An application must pass attacker-controlled XML to REXML; the resulting CPU-bound parse delay can interrupt that application's service.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in REXML before 3.2.7 allows attackers to prolong XML parsing through attributes containing many > characters. BaseParser#parse_attributes matched an entire quoted value with a non-greedy regular expression against buffered input instead of consuming it incrementally. An application must pass attacker-controlled XML to REXML; the resulting CPU-bound parse delay can interrupt that application's service.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-35176
- Published
- May 16, 2024
- Updated
- Nov 3, 2025
- Vendor
- libwww-perl
- Product
- REXML
- Classifications
- CWE-400, CWE-770, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 16, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Nov 3, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <3.2.7
- Affected versionversion=< 3.2.7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Many-greater-than attribute regression caseproof of concept · unverified
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo