CVE-2025-54988

Published Aug 20, 2025

Last updated a month ago

Overview

AI description

Automated description summarized from trusted sources.

CVE-2025-54988 is a critical XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability found in Apache Tika's PDF parser module (tika-parser-pdf-module). It affects Apache Tika versions 1.13 through 3.2.1. The vulnerability exists in how the PDFParser handles XML Forms Architecture (XFA) content within PDF documents. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by crafting a malicious XFA file embedded within a PDF document. This allows for XML External Entity injection attacks, potentially enabling the attacker to read sensitive files from the target system, access internal network resources, or trigger requests to external servers. The vulnerability affects multiple Tika packages including 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.

Description: 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.
Source: security@apache.org
NVD status: Modified
Products: tika

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type: Secondary
Base score: 8.4
Impact score: 5.9
Exploitability score: 2.5
Vector string: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Severity: HIGH

Weaknesses

security@apache.org: CWE-611

Hype score: Not currently trending

Configurations

[
  {
    "nodes": [
      {
        "negate": false,
        "cpeMatch": [
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:tika:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true,
            "matchCriteriaId": "06E31452-81F9-4B50-A6E1-EE8FE3E148BD",
            "versionEndExcluding": "3.2.2",
            "versionStartIncluding": "1.13"
          }
        ],
        "operator": "OR"
      }
    ]
  }
]

References

Sources include official advisories and independent security research.