CVE-2026-1757
Publication date 2 February 2026
Last updated 20 February 2026
Ubuntu priority
Description
A flaw was identified in the interactive shell of the xmllint utility, part of the libxml2 project, where memory allocated for user input is not properly released under certain conditions. When a user submits input consisting only of whitespace, the program skips command execution but fails to free the allocated buffer. Repeating this action causes memory to continuously accumulate. Over time, this can exhaust system memory and terminate the xmllint process, creating a denial-of-service condition on the local system.
Read the notes from the security team
Why is this CVE low priority?
Memory leak in command line tool
Status
| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status |
|---|---|---|
| libxml2 | 25.10 questing |
Vulnerable
|
| 24.04 LTS noble |
Not affected
|
|
| 22.04 LTS jammy |
Not affected
|
|
| 20.04 LTS focal |
Not affected
|
|
| 18.04 LTS bionic |
Not affected
|
|
| 16.04 LTS xenial |
Not affected
|
|
| 14.04 LTS trusty |
Not affected
|
Notes
mdeslaur
this is a memory leak in a command-line tool, this has very little security impact. Marking as low priority.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score |
6.2 · Medium
|
| Attack vector | Local |
| Attack complexity | Low |
| Privileges required | None |
| User interaction | None |
| Scope | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None |
| Integrity impact | None |
| Availability impact | High |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |