Amazon Linux 2 : mod_security (ALAS-2025-2963)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 252310

Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux 2 host is missing a security update.

Description

The version of mod_security installed on the remote host is prior to 2.9.11-1. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2-2025-2963 advisory.

ModSecurity is an open source, cross platform web application firewall (WAF) engine for Apache, IIS and Nginx. In versions 2.9.8 to before 2.9.11, an empty XML tag can cause a segmentation fault. If SecParseXmlIntoArgs is set to On or OnlyArgs, and the request type is application/xml, and at least one XML tag is empty (eg <foo></foo>), then a segmentation fault occurs. This issue has been patched in version 2.9.11. A workaround involves setting SecParseXmlIntoArgs to Off. (CVE-2025-52891)

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.

Solution

Run 'yum update mod_security' to update your system.

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 252310

File Name: al2_ALAS-2025-2963.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Amazon Linux Local Security Checks

Published: 8/19/2025

Updated: 8/19/2025

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 5.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2025-52891

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.5

Temporal Score: 5.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:amazon:linux:2, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:mod_security, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:mod_security-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:mod_security-mlogc

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AmazonLinux/release, Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/19/2025

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/2/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2025-52891

Detections

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