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OpenAdvisories
Low · 2.0 CVE-2026-23739 EUVD-2026-5646

Asterisk xml.c uses unsafe XML_PARSE_NOENT leading to potential XXE Injection

Published Feb 6, 2026 · Updated Feb 6, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

Asterisk is an open source private branch exchange and telephony toolkit. Prior to versions 20.7-cert9, 20.18.2, 21.12.1, 22.8.2, and 23.2.2, the ast_xml_open() function in xml.c parses XML documents using libxml with unsafe parsing options that enable entity expansion and XInclude processing. Specifically, it invokes xmlReadFile() with the XML_PARSE_NOENT flag and later processes XIncludes via xmlXIncludeProcess().If any untrusted or user-supplied XML file is passed to this function, it can allow an attacker to trigger XML External Entity (XXE) or XInclude-based local file disclosure, potentially exposing sensitive files from the host system. This can also be triggered in other cases in which the user is able to supply input in xml format that triggers the asterisk process to parse it. This issue has been patched in versions 20.7-cert9, 20.18.2, 21.12.1, 22.8.2, and 23.2.2.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
asterisk asterisk < 23.2.2, < 22.8.2, < 21.12.1, < 20.18.2, < 20.7-cert9 —

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.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 asterisk 1:22.8.2+dfsg+~cs6.15.60671435-1 —
Debian 11 asterisk 1:16.28.0~dfsg-0+deb11u9 DLA-4515-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 asterisk No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS asterisk No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 asterisk No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS asterisk No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS asterisk No fix yet —
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS asterisk No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS asterisk No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS asterisk No fix yet —

Advisories 2

References