libxml2 is vulnerable to multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the xmlcatalog utility when running in --shell mode. The usershell() function processes user input using fixed-size stack buffers without proper bounds checking. By supplying an overly long input line, an attacker can overflow internal buffers (command, arg, and argv) during input parsing. This results in memory corruption within the stack frame. Successful exploitation may cause a crash or potentially allow arbitrary code execution in the context of the xmlcatalog process. This issue has been fixed in the commit c2e233fc. NOTE: The maintainers of this project did not agree that this issue is a vulnerability and considered it a bug.

An update of the libxml2 package has been released.

The version of libxml2 installed on the remote host is prior to 2.9.1-6. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2-2026-3827 advisory.

    libxml2 is vulnerable to multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the xmlcatalog utility when running in
    --shell mode. The usershell() function processes user input using fixed-size stack buffers without proper     bounds checking.By supplying an overly long input line, an attacker can overflow internal buffers     (command, arg, and argv) during input parsing. This results in memory corruption within the stack     frame.Successful exploitation may cause a crash or potentially allow arbitrary code execution in the     context of the xmlcatalog process.

    This issue has been fixed in the commit c2e233fc.

    NOTE:The maintainers of this project did not agree that this issue is a vulnerability and considered it a     bug. (CVE-2026-11979)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-1992 advisory.

    libxml2 is vulnerable to multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the xmlcatalog utility when running in
    --shell mode. The usershell() function processes user input using fixed-size stack buffers without proper     bounds checking.By supplying an overly long input line, an attacker can overflow internal buffers     (command, arg, and argv) during input parsing. This results in memory corruption within the stack     frame.Successful exploitation may cause a crash or potentially allow arbitrary code execution in the     context of the xmlcatalog process.

    This issue has been fixed in the commit c2e233fc.

    NOTE:The maintainers of this project did not agree that this issue is a vulnerability and considered it a     bug. (CVE-2026-11979)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES12 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the SUSE- SU-2026:3111-1 advisory.

    This update for libxml2 fixes the following issue

    - CVE-2026-11979: stack-based buffer overflows in the `xmlcatalog` utility when running in `--shell` mode     (bsc#1269790).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLED15 / SLED_SAP15 / SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:3097-1 advisory.

    This update for libxml2 fixes the following issue

    - CVE-2026-11979: stack-based buffer overflows in the `xmlcatalog` utility when running in `--shell` mode     (bsc#1269790).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:3095-1 advisory.

    This update for libxml2 fixes the following issue

    - CVE-2026-11979: stack-based buffer overflows in the `xmlcatalog` utility when running in `--shell` mode     (bsc#1269790).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:3096-1 advisory.

    This update for libxml2 fixes the following issue

    - CVE-2026-11979: stack-based buffer overflows in the `xmlcatalog` utility when running in `--shell` mode     (bsc#1269790).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES16 / SLES_SAP16 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:22636-1 advisory.

    This update for libxml2 fixes the following issues

    - CVE-2026-6732: crafted XSD-validated document can cause a denial of service (bsc#1262719).
    - CVE-2026-11979: stack-based buffer overflows in the `xmlcatalog` utility when running in `--shell` mode     (bsc#1269790).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote openSUSE 16 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the openSUSE-SU-2026:21317-1 advisory.

    This update for libxml2 fixes the following issues

    - CVE-2026-6732: crafted XSD-validated document can cause a denial of service (bsc#1262719).
    - CVE-2026-11979: stack-based buffer overflows in the `xmlcatalog` utility when running in `--shell` mode     (bsc#1269790).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - libxml2 is vulnerable to multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the xmlcatalog utility when running in
    --shell mode. The usershell() function processes user input using fixed-size stack buffers without proper     bounds checking. By supplying an overly long input line, an attacker can overflow internal buffers     (command, arg, and argv) during input parsing. This results in memory corruption within the stack frame.
    Successful exploitation may cause a crash or potentially allow arbitrary code execution in the context of     the xmlcatalog process. This issue has been fixed in the commit c2e233fc. NOTE: The maintainers of this     project did not agree that this issue is a vulnerability and considered it a bug. (CVE-2026-11979)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
334722	Photon OS 5.0: Libxml2 PHSA-2026-5.0-92-0946	Nessus	PhotonOS Local Security Checks	Local	low
332010	Amazon Linux 2 : libxml2, --advisory ALAS2-2026-3827 (ALAS-2026-3827)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	Local	low
331986	Amazon Linux 2023 : libxml2, libxml2-devel, libxml2-static (ALAS2023-2026-1992)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	Local	low
327754	SUSE SLES12: libxml2-2 / libxml2-2-32bit / libxml2-devel / libxml2-doc / etc (SUSE-SU-2026:3111-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	low
327740	SUSE SLED15: libxml2-2 / libxml2-2-32bit / libxml2-devel / libxml2-tools / etc (SUSE-SU-2026:3097-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	low
327739	SUSE SLES15: libxml2-2 / libxml2-2-32bit / libxml2-devel / libxml2-tools / etc (SUSE-SU-2026:3095-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	low
327733	SUSE SLES15: libxml2-2 / libxml2-2-32bit / libxml2-devel / libxml2-tools / etc (SUSE-SU-2026:3096-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	low
327570	SUSE SLES16: libxml2-2 / libxml2-devel / libxml2-doc / libxml2-tools / etc (SUSE-SU-2026:22636-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	low
327233	openSUSE 16 Security Update : libxml2 (openSUSE-SU-2026:21317-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	low
323767	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-11979	Nessus	Misc.	Local	low

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CVE-2026-11979

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Tenable Plugins

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