CVE-2024-50615
📋 TL;DR
TinyXML2 versions through 10.0.0 contain a reachable assertion vulnerability in XMLUtil::GetCharacterRef that can cause applications to crash when processing specially crafted XML input. This affects any software using vulnerable TinyXML2 libraries for XML parsing. The vulnerability is triggered by integer overflow conditions during character reference parsing.
💻 Affected Systems
- TinyXML2 library
- Any software embedding TinyXML2
📦 What is this software?
Tinyxml2 by Tinyxml2 Project
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Denial of service causing application termination, potentially disrupting critical services or enabling crash-based attacks in multi-threaded environments.
Likely Case
Application crash when processing malicious XML input, leading to service disruption and potential availability issues.
If Mitigated
Controlled application termination with proper error handling, preventing further exploitation but still causing service interruption.
🎯 Exploit Status
Proof of concept available in GitHub issue #997. Exploitation requires sending specially crafted XML to trigger the assertion.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 10.0.1 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/leethomason/tinyxml2/issues/997
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update TinyXML2 to version 10.0.1 or later. 2. Recompile applications using the library. 3. Restart affected services.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input validation and sanitization
allValidate and sanitize XML input before processing, rejecting malformed character references.
Disable assertions in production
linuxCompile with NDEBUG flag to disable assertions, though this may mask other issues.
gcc -DNDEBUG -o your_app your_app.cpp
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict XML input validation to reject suspicious character references
- Deploy application-level monitoring for crashes and restart mechanisms
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if application uses TinyXML2 version ≤10.0.0 and processes XML input.Check Version:
Check library version in source code or use: strings libtinyxml2.so | grep 'TinyXML2'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify TinyXML2 version is ≥10.0.1 and test with known malicious XML samples.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes with assertion failures
- XML parsing errors
- Process termination logs
Network Indicators:
- Unusual XML payloads with character references
- Repeated XML submissions causing crashes
SIEM Query:
source="application.log" AND ("assertion failed" OR "TinyXML2" OR "XMLUtil::GetCharacterRef")