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Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

CVE-2017-12621

Severity High
Score 9.8/10

Summary

During Jelly (xml) file parsing with Apache Xerces, if a custom doctype entity is declared with a "SYSTEM" entity with a URL and that entity is used in the body of the Jelly file, during parser instantiation the parser will attempt to connect to said URL. This could lead to XML External Entity (XXE) attacks in Apache Commons Jelly before 1.0.1.

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

Advisory Timeline

  • Published