Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-25896

critical Nessus Plugin ID 299725

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

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

- fast-xml-parser allows users to validate XML, parse XML to JS object, or build XML from JS object without C/C++ based libraries and no callback. From 4.1.3to before 5.3.5, a dot (.) in a DOCTYPE entity name is treated as a regex wildcard during entity replacement, allowing an attacker to shadow built-in XML entities (<, >, &, , ') with arbitrary values. This bypasses entity encoding and leads to XSS when parsed output is rendered. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.3.5. (CVE-2026-25896)

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

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-25896

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-25896

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 299725

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_25896.nasl

Version: 1.3

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 2/21/2026

Updated: 3/16/2026

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.9

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.3

Temporal Score: 3.9

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-25896

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.3

Temporal Score: 8.8

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:node-webfont, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:node-webfont, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 2/20/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-25896