CVE-2024-23807: xerces-c\+\+ Use-After-Free

Description

The Apache Xerces C++ XML parser on versions 3.0.0 before 3.2.5 contains a use-after-free error triggered during the scanning of external DTDs. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.5 which fixes the issue, or mitigate the issue by disabling DTD processing. This can be accomplished via the DOM using a standard parser feature, or via SAX using the XERCES_DISABLE_DTD environment variable. This issue has been disclosed before as CVE-2018-1311, but unfortunately that advisory incorrectly stated the issue would be fixed in version 3.2.3 or 3.2.4.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2024-23807?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

9.8

CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-416 Use After Free

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
apache	xerces-c\+\+	3.0.0 — 3.2.5

References

Advisories & Patches

https://github.com/apache/xerces-c/pull/54 https://lists.apache.org/thread/c497tgn864tsbm8w0bo3f0d81s07zk9r https://github.com/apache/xerces-c/pull/54 https://lists.apache.org/thread/c497tgn864tsbm8w0bo3f0d81s07zk9r

Exploits

https://github.com/apache/xerces-c/pull/54 https://github.com/apache/xerces-c/pull/54

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-23807? +

The Apache Xerces C++ XML parser on versions 3.0.0 before 3.2.5 contains a use-after-free error triggered during the scanning of external DTDs. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.5 which fixes the issue, or mitigate the issue by disabling DTD processing. This can be accomplished via the DOM using a standard parser feature, or via SAX using the XERCES_DISABLE_DTD environment variable. This issue has been disclosed before as CVE-2018-1311, but unfortunately that advisory incorrectly stated the issue would be fixed in version 3.2.3 or 3.2.4. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).

How severe is CVE-2024-23807? +

CVE-2024-23807 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8 out of 10, rated CRITICAL. This is a critical vulnerability that should be patched immediately.

What products are affected by CVE-2024-23807? +

CVE-2024-23807 affects products from apache, specifically: xerces-c\+\+. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2024-23807? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-6040

A heap use-after-free existed when importing the blank-width characters of an ODF number format. A position value read from the …

CVE-2025-24898

rust-openssl is a set of OpenSSL bindings for the Rust programming language. In affected versions `ssl::select_next_proto` can return a slice …

CVE-2025-31115

XZ Utils provide a general-purpose data-compression library plus command-line tools. In XZ Utils 5.3.3alpha to 5.8.0, the multithreaded .xz decoder …

CVE-2025-31498

c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. From 1.32.3 through 1.34.4, there is a use-after-free in read_answers() when process_answer() may re-enqueue …

CVE-2025-4516

There is an issue in CPython when using `bytes.decode("unicode_escape", error="ignore|replace")`. If you are not using the "unicode_escape" encoding or an …

CVE-2025-5991

There is a "Use After Free" vulnerability in Qt's QHttp2ProtocolHandler in the QtNetwork module. This only affects HTTP/2 handling, HTTP …

CVE-2024-23807