CVE-2026-72522: Medium severity libexpat vulnerability
Last updated 24 September 2026
Other sources
libexpat before 2.8.3 has an out-of-bounds read and resultant infinite loop because low surrogates are treated the same as high surrogates during Unicode processing in the toUtf16 functions.
— MITRE
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 2.8.3-1 - Upgrade
Upgrade
debian/expatto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 2.5.0-1+deb12u3Fixed in 2.8.3-1~deb13u1Fixed in 2.8.4-1Fixed in 2.8.4-2 - Upgrade
Upgrade
libexpatto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 2.8.3
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2026-72522?
CVE-2026-72522 has a medium severity score of 6.2.
How do I fix CVE-2026-72522?
To mitigate CVE-2026-72522, update libexpat to version 2.8.3 or later.
What type of vulnerability is CVE-2026-72522?
CVE-2026-72522 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that can lead to an infinite loop.
What software is affected by CVE-2026-72522?
CVE-2026-72522 affects libexpat versions before 2.8.3.
What causes the vulnerability in CVE-2026-72522?
The vulnerability in CVE-2026-72522 is caused by low surrogates being treated the same as high surrogates during Unicode processing.