Nmap Denial-of-Service Vulnerability via XML Entity Expansion

A denial-of-service vulnerability has been identified in Nmap version 7.70. This issue allows local attackers to crash the application by exploiting the XML scan import feature in ZenMap, Nmap's graphical user interface. The vulnerability arises from uncontrolled recursion caused by processing malicious XML files with nested entity definitions, leading to excessive resource consumption and application failure.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability causes Nmap to crash and consume excessive system resources, leading to a system crash on Windows 7 32-bit.

Reproduction

To reproduce this vulnerability, create a crafted XML file with nested entity definitions that exploit exponential entity expansion. Save this file and then open it using ZenMap's scan import functionality. The application will crash after consuming a large amount of system resources.