LIBXML2 NARROWLY AVOIDS BECOMING UNMAINTAINED

Summary from the TLDR InfoSec newsletter

The libxml2 library temporarily lost its sole volunteer maintainer, Nick Wellnhofer, after years of unpaid security work, creating a critical risk for GNOME, web browsers, and countless projects depending on this XML/XSLT processing library. Wellnhofer experienced burnout from companies that sent security reports, expecting immediate CVE responses and patches, with no financial compensation beyond a single Google donation, while providing no code contributions or test cases. Two new maintainers have assumed responsibility, but the incident highlights the unsustainable model in which commercial software relies on unpaid volunteers to maintain critical infrastructure components.