Description
The highlighting functionality in geshi.php in GeSHi before 1.0.8 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via an XML sequence containing an opening delimiter without a closing delimiter, as demonstrated using "<".
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | geshi | 1.0.8.1-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | geshi | 1.0.8.1-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | geshi | 1.0.8.1-1 | — |
| Debian 5.0 | geshi | 1.0.7.22-1+lenny1 | DTSA-179-1 |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.
Exploit-DB 1
- GeSHi 1.0.x - XML Parsing Remote Denial of Service EDB-32596 · dos · Nov 20, 2008 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 1
- DTSA-179-1 geshi - multiple issues Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- 32377 vdb-entry
- geshi-xml-dos(46769) vdb-entry
- http://geshi.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/geshi/trunk/geshi-1.0.X/src/geshi.php?r1=1321&r2=1322&view=patch
- [oss-security] 20081120 CVE id request: another geshi issue (was: [oss-security] GeSHi: Clarification about the recent security (non-)issues (SA32559)) mailing-list