RedHat Update for libxml2 RHSA-2012:0016-01

Solution
Please Install the Updated Packages.
Insight
The libxml2 library is a development toolbox providing the implementation of various XML standards. One of those standards is the XML Path Language (XPath), which is a language for addressing parts of an XML document. A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way libxml2 decoded entity references with long names. A remote attacker could provide a specially-crafted XML file that, when opened in an application linked against libxml2, would cause the application to crash or, potentially, execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application. (CVE-2011-3919) An off-by-one error, leading to a heap-based buffer overflow, was found in the way libxml2 parsed certain XML files. A remote attacker could provide a specially-crafted XML file that, when opened in an application linked against libxml2, would cause the application to crash or, potentially, execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application. (CVE-2011-0216) A flaw was found in the way libxml2 parsed certain XPath expressions. If an attacker were able to supply a specially-crafted XML file to an application using libxml2, as well as an XPath expression for that application to run against the crafted file, it could cause the application to crash. (CVE-2011-2834) Note: Red Hat does not ship any applications that use libxml2 in a way that would allow the CVE-2011-2834 flaw to be exploited however, third-party applications may allow XPath expressions to be passed which could trigger this flaw. An out-of-bounds memory read flaw was found in libxml2. A remote attacker could provide a specially-crafted XML file that, when opened in an application linked against libxml2, would cause the application to crash. (CVE-2011-3905) All users of libxml2 are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. The desktop must be restarted (log out, then log back in) for this update to take effect.
Affected
libxml2 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4, Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4, Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4
References