Mini-XML 4.0.5 contains a memory leak vulnerability in mxml_load_data() during malformed XML parsing.

published 2026-09-24 46 d ago modified 2026-10-06 33 d ago also EUVD-2026-86274

cvss: 6.5; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.3%; EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 23%
public exploits: 0; none known

Mini-XML 4.0.5 contains a memory leak vulnerability in mxml_load_data() during malformed XML parsing. Specially crafted XML input can cause text nodes allocated by mxmlNewText() to become unlinked before a parse error transfers control to the cleanup path. These orphaned nodes are not released, resulting in a persistent memory leak on each parsing attempt. Repeated attacker-controlled requests can cause cumulative memory exhaustion and denial of service.

Patch / fix

distros 1 links 1

mxml Debian 14 4.0.6-2

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-88385

github.com/michaelrsweet/mxml@83ef80a commit

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-88385 updated 2026-10-31 cvss 7.5

mxml: mxml: Denial of Service via memory leak during malformed XML parsing

Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: Proof of concept is public
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 33 d ago (2026-10-06)

Exploit prediction

0.31% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 23% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

github.com https://github.com/michaelrsweet/mxml/issues/356 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CISA ADP	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Classification

Weakness

CWE-401 Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

References

Sources

CVE List CVE-2026-88385
NVD CVE-2026-88385

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary