Expat, when used in a parser that has not called XML_SetHashSalt or passed it a seed of 0, makes it easier for context-dependent attackers to defeat cryptographic protection mechanisms via vectors involving use of the srand function.
Expat allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a malformed input document, which triggers a buffer overflow.
expat 2.1.0 and earlier does not properly handle entities expansion unless an application developer uses the XML_SetEntityDeclHandler function, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource consumption), send HTTP requests to intranet servers, or read arbitrary files via a crafted XML document, aka an XML External Entity (XXE) issue. NOTE: it could be argued that because expat already provides the ability to disable external entity expansion, the responsibility for resolving this issue lies with application developers; according to this argument, this entry should be REJECTed, and each affected application would need its own CVE.