CVE-2009-2473

neon < 0.28.6 - Denial of Service via Nested XML Entity Expansion

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2009-2473. PoCs published by Peter Valchev.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This is a vulnerability writeup for CVE-2009-2473, detailing a denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in the Expat library due to improper handling of crafted XML data. It lists affected software versions and references external exploit binaries.

Description

neon before 0.28.6, when expat is used, does not properly detect recursion during entity expansion, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption) via a crafted XML document containing a large number of nested entity references, a similar issue to CVE-2003-1564.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WRITEUP VERIFIED
by Peter Valchev · textdoslinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/10206

This is a vulnerability writeup for CVE-2009-2473, detailing a denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in the Expat library due to improper handling of crafted XML data. It lists affected software versions and references external exploit binaries.

Classification
Writeup 90%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Theoretical
Target: Expat library (2.0.1 and potentially others), Python (multiple versions), various Linux distributions
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Crafted XML data to trigger the vulnerability
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (13)

Core 13
Core References
Vendor Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_redhat
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-0131.html
Vendor Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_mandriva
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2009:221
Various Sources mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://lists.manyfish.co.uk/pipermail/neon/2009-August/001044.html
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry signature x_refsource_oval
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A9461
Vendor Advisory x_refsource_confirm
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4435
Patch, Vendor Advisory vdb-entry x_refsource_vupen
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/2341
Mailing List vendor-advisory x_refsource_apple
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2010//Nov/msg00000.html
Vendor Advisory third-party-advisory x_refsource_secunia
http://secunia.com/advisories/36371
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_xf
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/52633
Various Sources mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://lists.manyfish.co.uk/pipermail/neon/2009-August/001045.html

Scores

EPSS 0.1237
EPSS Percentile 94.0%

Details

CWE
CWE-399
Status published
Products (1)
webdav/neon 0.28.6
Published Aug 21, 2009
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026