CVE-2024-50602 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in libexpat versions prior to 2.6.4. The flaw occurs because the XML_ResumeParser function can crash if XML_StopParser is called on a parser that has not yet started. This leads to a denial-of-service condition. The vulnerability affects Python versions <3.9.21, >=3.10.0 <3.10.16, >=3.11.0 <3.11.11, >=3.12.0 <3.12.8, and >=3.13.0 <3.13.1. Red Hat has released patches for their Enterprise Linux distributions to mitigate this issue.

The vulnerability allows an attacker to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) by crashing the XML parser in libexpat. This can disrupt applications or services that rely on XML parsing using the affected versions of libexpat, including certain Python versions. There is no indication of code execution or data breach from this vulnerability. No known exploits are reported in the wild.

A patch is available to fix this vulnerability. Users should apply the updates provided by their vendors, such as the Red Hat advisory RHSA-2025:3350, which addresses this issue in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Extended Update Support. Refer to the vendor advisory for detailed update instructions. No additional mitigation steps are indicated by the vendor.