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CVE-2026-72522VulnerabilityPublished Updated

libexpat before 2.8.3 has an out-of-bounds read and resultant infinite loop because low surrogates are treated the same as high surrogates during Unicode processing in the *_toUtf16 functions

Source GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-72522· Medium 6.2

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.2 Medium : upgrade to 2.8.3 when convenient.

Data as of 10 Nov 2026, 16:36 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
6.2Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none
CVSS scores by source
CNA (mitre)CVSS 3.16.2
Patch
Available – fixed in 2.8.3
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 10 Aug 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 10 Nov 2026.

What to do

Upgrade libexpat and libexpat/libexpat to 2.8.3.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
libexpat projectlibexpatAffected
  • <2.8.3
Fixed in
  • 2.8.3
GitHublibexpat/libexpatpkg:github/libexpat/libexpatOther threatsAffected
  • <2.8.3
Fixed in
  • 2.8.3

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

Description

libexpat before 2.8.3 has an out-of-bounds read and resultant infinite loop because low surrogates are treated the same as high surrogates during Unicode processing in the *_toUtf16 functions.

References

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