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EpubCheck 4.0.1 contains a XML external entity processing vulnerability

Vulnerability Note VU#779243

Original Release Date: 2016-12-13 | Last Revised: 2016-12-14

Overview

EpubCheck 4.0.1 is vulnerable to external XML entity processing attacks.

Description

EpubCheck is a tool to validate that EPUB files follow the proper format. It can be used as a stand alone command line utility, or included in a project (most commonly being epub readers) as a library.

CWE-611: Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference ('XXE') - CVE-2016-9487
EpubCheck 4.0.1 does not properly restrict resolving external entities when parsing XML in EPUB files during validation. An attacker who supplies a specially crafted EPUB file may be able to exploit this behavior to read arbitrary files, or have the victim execute arbitrary requests on his behalf, abusing the victim's trust relationship with other entities.

Impact

A remote attacker may be able to access arbitrary files on a system, or cause the system execute arbitrary requests.

Solution

Apply an update

EpubCheck has released version 4.0.2 to address the vulnerability.

Vendor Information

779243
 
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Adobe Affected

Updated:  December 13, 2016

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

Adobe has released an update for affected products.

Vendor References

Apple Affected

Updated:  December 14, 2016

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

Apple has released updates to address affected products.

Vendor References

International Digital Publishing Forum Affected

Notified:  October 13, 2016 Updated: December 09, 2016

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.


CVSS Metrics

Group Score Vector
Base 6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Temporal 5.9 E:--/RL:OF/RC:C
Environmental 4.5 CDP:N/TD:M/CR:ND/IR:ND/AR:ND

References

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Craig Arendt for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Trent Novelly.

Other Information

CVE IDs: CVE-2016-9487
Date Public: 2016-12-13
Date First Published: 2016-12-13
Date Last Updated: 2016-12-14 18:20 UTC
Document Revision: 15

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