CVE-2025-24928: Netapp Active IQ Buffer Overflow Flaw

CVE-2025-24928 Overview

libxml2 before 2.12.10 and 2.13.x before 2.13.6 has a stack-based buffer overflow in xmlSnprintfElements in valid.c. To exploit this, DTD validation must occur for an untrusted document or untrusted DTD. Note: this is similar to CVE-2017-9047.

Critical Impact
This vulnerability can lead to potential code execution when processing untrusted XML documents, impacting data integrity and exposing systems to further compromise.

Affected Products

netapp active_iq_unified_manager
netapp manageability_software_development_kit
netapp ontap

Discovery Timeline

Not Available - Vulnerability discovered by Not Available
Not Available - Responsible disclosure to netapp
Not Available - CVE CVE-2025-24928 assigned
Not Available - netapp releases security patch
2025-02-18 - CVE CVE-2025-24928 published to NVD
2025-11-03 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-24928

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability occurs due to a stack-based buffer overflow in the function xmlSnprintfElements. This flaw allows an attacker to cause a denial of service or potentially execute arbitrary code by supplying a malicious XML document with DTD validation.

Root Cause

The core issue lies in the lack of proper bounds checking during the snprintf operation within valid.c, leading to buffer overflow when handling oversized input.

Attack Vector

This vulnerability requires local access where an attacker can supply a malicious XML document to the libxml2 parser that processes DTDs without adequate validation.

// Example exploitation code (sanitized)
char buffer[10];
printf(buffer, "<%s>", large_untrusted_input);

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-24928

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected application crashes
High resource usage by XML processing applications
Unrecognized XML processing logs

Detection Strategies

Monitoring application logs for unusual or malformed XML document processing incidents. Utilize security analytics platforms to detect anomalous transactions involving XML parsers.

Monitoring Recommendations

Implement runtime application self-protection (RASP) to monitor for library calls to vulnerable XML parsing functions. Use SIEM solutions to alert on CVE-related IOCs.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-24928

Immediate Actions Required

Disable DTD processing in affected systems
Implement input validation for XML documents
Update to the latest version of libxml2

Patch Information

Update libxml2 to version 2.12.10 or 2.13.6+. Review vendor advisories for patch application.

Workarounds

Configure XML parsers to disable DTD validation as a temporary workaround to mitigate exploitation risk.

bash

# Configuration example
echo "alias xmlstarlet='xmlstarlet --noent'" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc