Maven
CVE-2019-9843
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A02:2025 - Security Misconfiguration
ASVS 5.0
V13 - Configuration XML external entity prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Initial Access, Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, high complexity, no privileges required, user interaction required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could read arbitrary files or perform SSRF through XML processing by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
In DiffPlug Spotless before 1.20.0 (library and Maven plugin) and before 3.20.0 (Gradle plugin), the XML parser would resolve external entities over both HTTP and HTTPS and didn't respect the. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Disable external entity processing in XML parsers, use JSON instead of XML where possible.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages 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 XML External Entity (XXE) (CWE-611), which allows attackers to read arbitrary files or perform SSRF through XML processing. In DiffPlug Spotless before 1.20.0 (library and Maven plugin) and before 3.20.0 (Gradle plugin), the XML parser would resolve external entities over both HTTP and HTTPS and didn't respect the resolveExternalEntities setting. For example, this allows disclosure of file contents to a MITM attacker if a victim performs a spotlessApply operation on an untrusted XML file. Affected products include: Diffplug Gradle, Diffplug Maven. Version information: before 1.20.0.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
In DiffPlug Spotless before 1.20.0 (library and Maven plugin) and before 3.20.0 (Gradle plugin), the XML parser would resolve external entities over both HTTP and HTTPS and didn't respect the resolveExternalEntities setting. For example, this allows disclosure of file contents to a MITM attacker if a victim performs a spotlessApply operation on an untrusted XML file.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
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)NVD
Apache Maven will follow repositories that are defined in a dependency’s Project Object Model (pom) which may be surpris
A cross-site request forgery vulnerability in a connection test form method in Jenkins Maven Release Plugin 0.16.1 and e
Jenkins Maven Release Plugin 0.16.1 and earlier does not configure the XML parser to prevent XML external entity (XXE) a
An issue was discovered in the Maven Extension plugin before 1.6 for Gradle Enterprise. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8),
A directory traversal issue was discovered in Gradle gradle-enterprise-test-distribution-agent before 1.3.2, test-distri
Jenkins Maven Integration Plugin 3.3 and earlier did not apply build log decorators to module builds, potentially reveal
The default configuration of Apache Maven 3.0.4, when using Maven Wagon 2.1, disables SSL certificate checks, which allo
Exploit-DB