What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-54988?

CVE-2025-54988 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.4 (High). CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.0%.

Which versions of Tika are affected by CVE-2025-54988?

Organizations using Apache Tika 1.13 face notable risk from CVE-2025-54988, a XML external entity vulnerability rated CVSS 8.4.. A patch is available.

How to fix or mitigate CVE-2025-54988?

Within 30 days: Identify all affected systems running Apache Tika 1.13 and apply vendor patches as part of regular patch cycle. Monitor vendor channels for patch availability.

Tika CVE-2025-54988

HIGH

Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (CWE-611)

2025-08-20 security@apache.org

Apache Information Disclosure XXE Red Hat Tika

8.4

CVSS 3.1

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Lifecycle Timeline

Patch released

Mar 31, 2026 - 21:13 nvd

Patch available

Analysis Generated

Mar 28, 2026 - 19:07 vuln.today

CVE Published

Aug 20, 2025 - 20:15 nvd

HIGH 8.4

Blast Radius

ecosystem impact

† from your stack dependencies † transitive graph · vuln.today resolves 4-path depth

64 maven packages depend on org.apache.tika:tika-parsers (30 direct, 34 indirect)

Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 1.13.

DescriptionNVD

Critical XXE in Apache Tika (tika-parser-pdf-module) in Apache Tika 1.13 through and including 3.2.1 on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF. An attacker may be able to read sensitive data or trigger malicious requests to internal resources or third-party servers. Note that the tika-parser-pdf-module is used as a dependency in several Tika packages including at least: tika-parsers-standard-modules, tika-parsers-standard-package, tika-app, tika-grpc and tika-server-standard.

Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.2, which fixes this issue.

AnalysisAI

Critical XXE in Apache Tika (tika-parser-pdf-module) in Apache Tika 1.13 through and including 3.2.1 on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.4), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

Technical ContextAI

This vulnerability is classified as XML External Entity (XXE) (CWE-611), which allows attackers to read arbitrary files or perform SSRF through XML processing. Critical XXE in Apache Tika (tika-parser-pdf-module) in Apache Tika 1.13 through and including 3.2.1 on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF. An attacker may be able to read sensitive data or trigger malicious requests to internal resources or third-party servers. Note that the tika-parser-pdf-module is used as a dependency in several Tika packages including at least: tika-parsers-standard-modules, tika-parsers-standard-package, tika-app, tika-grpc and tika-server-standard. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.2, which fixes this issue. Affected products include: Apache Tika. Version information: version 3.2.2.

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.