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Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

CVE-2013-0340

High
8.6/10

Summary

expat 2.1.0 and earlier does not properly handle entities expansion unless an application developer uses the XML_SetEntityDeclHandler function, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource consumption), send HTTP requests to intranet servers, or read arbitrary files via a crafted XML document, aka an XML External Entity (XXE) issue. NOTE: it could be argued that because expat already provides the ability to disable external entity expansion, the responsibility for resolving this issue lies with application developers; according to this argument, this entry should be REJECTed, and each affected application would need its own CVE.

  • LOW
  • NETWORK
  • LOW
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • LOW
  • HIGH

CWE-611 - Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

Listed 4th in the 'OWASP Top Ten', XML External Entities (XXE) vulnerability allows attackers to provide an XML input that contains an external entity. When the XML is parsed, it can cause data extraction and manipulation, execution of commands, denial-of-service attacks, and server-side request forgery.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published