Vulnerability Assessment
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 5.89%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | Successful exploitation could compromise the high-severity affected system. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Apache PDFBox before 1.8.12 and 2.x before 2.0.1 does not properly initialize the XML parsers, which allows context-dependent attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via a crafted PDF. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in maven
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Apache PDFBox before 1.8.12 and 2.x before 2.0.1 does not properly initialize the XML parsers, which allows context-dependent attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via a crafted PDF. Affected products include: Apache Pdfbox, Debian Debian Linux. Version information: before 1.8.12.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionCVE.org
Apache PDFBox before 1.8.12 and 2.x before 2.0.1 does not properly initialize the XML parsers, which allows context-dependent attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via a crafted PDF.
Blast Radius
ecosystem impact- 57 maven packages depend on org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox (17 direct, 40 indirect)
Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 2.0.0.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
XML External Entity (XXE) attacks exploit XML parsers that process Document Type Definitions (DTDs) without proper restrictions.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
Apache PDFBox 2.0.14 does not properly initialize the XML parser, which allows context-dependent attackers to conduct XM
In Apache PDFBox 1.8.0 to 1.8.14 and 2.0.0RC1 to 2.0.10, a carefully crafted (or fuzzed) file can trigger an infinite lo
In Apache PDFBox, a carefully crafted PDF file can trigger an infinite loop while loading the file.0.23 and prior 2.0.x
In Apache PDFBox, a carefully crafted PDF file can trigger an OutOfMemory-Exception while loading the file.0.23 and prio
A carefully crafted PDF file can trigger an OutOfMemory-Exception while loading the file.0.22 and prior 2.0.x versions.
A carefully crafted PDF file can trigger an infinite loop while loading the file.0.22 and prior 2.0.x versions. Rated me
In Apache PDFBox 1.8.0 to 1.8.15 and 2.0.0RC1 to 2.0.11, a carefully crafted PDF file can trigger an extremely long runn
Apache PDFBox versions 2.0.24-2.0.35 and 3.0.0-3.0.6 contain a path traversal vulnerability in the ExtractEmbeddedFiles
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB