Skip to main content

Tika CVE-2016-6809

CRITICAL
Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502)
2017-04-06 cve@mitre.org
9.8
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A08:2025 - Software or Data Integrity Failures
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization Safe deserialization, type allowlists
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Initial Access

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Impact

CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 7.05%.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A remote attacker could execute arbitrary code through malicious serialized objects by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: CRITICAL severity.
Patch available 7.0% exploitation probability (EPSS)

Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.

Alert me

AnalysisAI

Apache Tika before 1.14 allows Java code execution for serialized objects embedded in MATLAB files. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code through malicious serialized objects.

RemediationAI

A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Avoid deserializing untrusted data. Use safe serialization formats (JSON). Implement integrity checks and type allowlists.

Affected Packages

maven org.apache.tika:tika-core fix: 1.14

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

This vulnerability is classified as Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary code through malicious serialized objects. Apache Tika before 1.14 allows Java code execution for serialized objects embedded in MATLAB files. The issue exists because Tika invokes JMatIO to do native deserialization. Affected products include: Apache Nutch, Apache Tika. Version information: before 1.14.

Know when Tika gets its next vulnerability

  • Watch products and get an email when something new is published
  • Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

No credit card · 7-day full trial

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 9.8 CRITICAL
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

DescriptionCVE.org

Apache Tika before 1.14 allows Java code execution for serialized objects embedded in MATLAB files. The issue exists because Tika invokes JMatIO to do native deserialization.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
7.0%
Top 8% exploitable
Data Quality
3 sources
Confidence: Low

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.

SignalValue
Severity CRITICAL
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 7.0%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
CRITICAL severity
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
Yes
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

56
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +7
CVSS: +49
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Insecure deserialization occurs when an application converts serialized data (a stream of bytes representing an object's state) back into a living object without proper validation.

Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.

Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org

cpe:2.3:a:apache:nutch:2.3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:apache:tika:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More in Tika

View all
CVE-2018-1335 HIGH POC
8.1 Apr 25

From Apache Tika versions 1.7 to 1.17, clients could send carefully crafted headers to tika-server that could be used to

CVE-2025-66516 HIGH POC
8.4 Dec 04

Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules

CVE-2025-54988 HIGH POC
8.4 Aug 20

Critical XXE in Apache Tika (tika-parser-pdf-module) in Apache Tika 1.13 through and including 3.2.1 on all platforms al

CVE-2021-33813 HIGH POC
7.5 Jun 16

An XXE issue in SAXBuilder in JDOM through 2.0.6 allows attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted HTTP reques

CVE-2019-10088 HIGH
8.8 Aug 02

A carefully crafted or corrupt zip file can cause an OOM in Apache Tika's RecursiveParserWrapper in versions 1.7-1.21. R

CVE-2016-4434 HIGH
7.8 Sep 30

Apache Tika before 1.13 does not properly initialize the XML parser or choose handlers, which might allow remote attacke

CVE-2019-10094 HIGH
7.8 Aug 02

A carefully crafted package/compressed file that, when unzipped/uncompressed yields the same file (a quine), causes a St

CVE-2018-11796 HIGH
7.5 Oct 09

In Apache Tika 1.19 (CVE-2018-11761), we added an entity expansion limit for XML parsing. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5)

CVE-2018-11761 HIGH
7.5 Sep 19

In Apache Tika 0.1 to 1.18, the XML parsers were not configured to limit entity expansion. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5

CVE-2026-66756 MEDIUM
6.9 Jul 30

The /unpack endpoint in Apache Tika's server component (tika-server 4.0.0-alpha-1) fails to enforce the operator-configu

CVE-2019-10093 MEDIUM
6.5 Aug 02

In Apache Tika 1.19 to 1.21, a carefully crafted 2003ml or 2006ml file could consume all available SAXParsers in the poo

CVE-2018-17197 MEDIUM
6.5 Dec 24

A carefully crafted or corrupt sqlite file can cause an infinite loop in Apache Tika's SQLite3Parser in versions 1.8-1.1

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy