CVE-2025-52891
ModSecurity empty XML tag causes segmentation fault
6.5
MEDIUM
CVSS 3.1
EPSS 0.24%
Description
ModSecurity is an open source, cross platform web application firewall (WAF) engine for Apache, IIS and Nginx. In versions 2.9.8 to before 2.9.11, an empty XML tag can cause a segmentation fault. If SecParseXmlIntoArgs is set to On or OnlyArgs, and the request type is application/xml, and at least one XML tag is empty (eg <foo></foo>), then a segmentation fault occurs. This issue has been patched in version 2.9.11. A workaround involves setting SecParseXmlIntoArgs to Off.
How to fix CVE-2025-52891
To remediate CVE-2025-52891, upgrade the affected package to a fixed version below.
- —upgrade to 3.0.12 or later
- —upgrade to 2.9.11 or later
- —upgrade to 2.9.11-1 or later
Is CVE-2025-52891 being exploited?
Low — EPSS is 0.2%, meaning exploitation activity has not been observed at scale.
Affected packages (3)
- >= 2.9.8, < 3.0.12
- >= 2.9.8, < 2.9.11
- from 0, < 2.9.11-1
CVSS scores
| Source | Version | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| osv | CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |