Description
ModSecurity is an open source, cross platform web application firewall (WAF) engine for Apache, IIS and Nginx. From 3.0.15 until 3.0.17, XML request body processing with SecParseXmlIntoArgs set to On or OnlyArgs can leave XMLNodes::parsing_ctx_arg uninitialized in the SAX end-element callback. A single crafted unauthenticated HTTP request can make a worker dereference the pointer, resulting in a constant-value write to an attacker-controlled address. The resulting memory corruption can terminate the worker and may disclose memory or redirect execution. Earlier 3.0.x releases and ModSecurity 2.x do not use the affected path. This issue is fixed in version 3.0.17.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| owasp-modsecurity | ModSecurity | >= 3.0.15, < 3.0.17 | — |
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 | modsecurity | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 13 | modsecurity | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | modsecurity | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | modsecurity | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | modsecurity | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | modsecurity | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | modsecurity | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | modsecurity | No fix yet | — |
Advisories 1
- WID-SEC-2026-3666 OWASP ModSecurity: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 9, 2026