Disclosure summary
xmlseclibs is a library written in PHP for working with XML Encryption and Signatures. Versions 3.1.3 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability due to a flaw in the libxml2 canonicalization process during document transformation. When libxml2’s canonicalization is invoked on an invalid XML input, it may return an empty string rather than a canonicalized node. xmlseclibs then proceeds to compute the DigestValue over this empty string, treating it as if canonicalization succeeded. This issue is fixed in version 3.1.4. Workarounds include treating canonicalization failures (exceptions or nil/empty outputs) as fatal and aborting validation, and/or adding explicit checks to reject when canonicalize returns nil/empty or raises errors.
Source-reported weakness categories
CWE-248
Source-specific records & product guidance
Sources retain their own attribution and scoring. Follow the original record to confirm affected versions, fixed releases, and configuration conditions.
NIST National Vulnerability Database · NVD-CVE-2025-66578
Open original source · Updated Oct 07, 2026
Only CPE matches marked vulnerable=true are indexed. AND/OR platform conditions must be checked in the original NVD record.
| Vendor | Product / association | Version / bounds |
|---|---|---|
| xmlseclibs_project | xmlseclibs | * {"versionEndExcluding":"3.1.4"} |
Original records & references
- NIST NVD record
- CVE Program record
- github.com — Product
- github.com — Patch
- github.com — Exploit, Vendor Advisory
PUBLISHED 2025-12-09T11:18:21-05:00
MODIFIED 2026-10-07T16:10:01-04:00
INGESTED 2026-10-08T12:35:36-04:00