CVE-2025-66516

Description

A XML External Entity (XXE) injection vulnerability was found in the Apache Tika framework's PDF parsing functionality. It could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to exploit the system by providing a specially crafted PDF containing an XFA (XML Forms Architecture) file. This flaw could lead to sensitive information disclosure or, potentially, Remote Code Execution (RCE) on the server. The issue affects multiple Tika modules, including tika-core, tika-pdf-module, and tika-parsers, within the version ranges 1.13 through 3.2.1.

This CVE expands on the scope of CVE-2025-54988 to clarify that the root cause and required fix reside in the tika-core module, regardless of which parser module is used.

Statement

This vulnerability is rated Critical because it can be triggered when Apache Tika processes a maliciously crafted XFA file embedded within a PDF. Successful exploitation enables XML External Entity (XXE) injection, allowing an attacker to access sensitive local files and initiate arbitrary requests to internal or external network resources. This can lead to Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF), data tampering, and potential elevation of privileges. With high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability, this vulnerability poses a severe risk to affected systems.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score109.88.4
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkLocal
Attack ComplexityLowLowLow
Privileges RequiredNoneNoneNone
User InteractionNoneNoneNone
ScopeChangedUnchangedUnchanged
ConfidentialityHighHighHigh
Integrity ImpactHighHighHigh
Availability ImpactHighHighHigh

Vector

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

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

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

CWE-611

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Application Data; Read Files or Directories

If the attacker is able to include a crafted DTD and a default entity resolver is enabled, the attacker may be able to access arbitrary files on the system. By submitting an XML file that defines an external entity with a file:// URI, an attacker can cause the processing application to read the contents of a local file. For example, a URI such as "file:///c:/winnt/win.ini" designates (in Windows) the file C:\Winnt\win.ini, or file:///etc/passwd designates the password file in Unix-based systems. Once the content of the URI is read, it is fed back into the application that is processing the XML. This application may echo back the data (e.g., in an error message), thereby exposing the file contents.

Integrity

Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism

An attacker may supply a crafted DTD using URIs with schemes such as http://, forcing the application to make outgoing HTTP requests to servers that the attacker cannot reach directly, which can be used to bypass firewall restrictions; hide the source of attacks such as port scanning; or otherwise leverage the server's trust relationship with other entities.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)

The product could consume excessive CPU cycles or memory using a URI that points to a large file, or a device that always returns data such as /dev/random. Alternately, the URI could reference a file that contains many nested or recursive entity references to further slow down parsing.

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