CVE-2025-66516

Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF. This CVE covers the same vulnerability as in CVE-2025-54988. However, this CVE expands the scope of affected packages in two ways. First, while the entrypoint for the vulnerability was the tika-parser-pdf-module as reported in CVE-2025-54988, the vulnerability and its fix were in tika-core. Users who upgraded the tika-parser-pdf-module but did not upgrade tika-core to >= 3.2.2 would still be vulnerable. Second, the original report failed to mention that in the 1.x Tika releases, the PDFParser was in the "org.apache.tika:tika-parsers" module.

CVSS v3 9.8 CRITICAL

9.8^/10

CVSS v3 : CRITICAL

Vector :

Exploitability : 3.9 / Impact : 5.9

Attack Vector NETWORK

Attack Complexity LOW

Privileges Required NONE

User Interaction NONE

Confidentiality Impact HIGH

Integrity Impact HIGH

Availability Impact HIGH

Scope UNCHANGED

References

Link	Resource
https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-54988	Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread/s5x3k93nhbkqzztp1olxotoyjpdlps9k	Vendor Advisory

Configurations

Configuration 1 (hide)

cpe:2.3:a:apache:tika:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

History

18 Dec 2025, 14:49

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
CPE		cpe:2.3:a:apache:tika::::::::
CVSS	v2 : ~~unknown~~ v3 : ~~unknown~~	v2 : unknown v3 : 9.8
References	~~() https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-54988 -~~	() https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-54988 - Third Party Advisory
References	~~() https://lists.apache.org/thread/s5x3k93nhbkqzztp1olxotoyjpdlps9k -~~	() https://lists.apache.org/thread/s5x3k93nhbkqzztp1olxotoyjpdlps9k - Vendor Advisory
First Time		Apache Apache tika

04 Dec 2025, 17:15

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
New CVE

Information

Published : 2025-12-04 17:15

Updated : 2025-12-18 14:49

NVD link : CVE-2025-66516

Mitre link : CVE-2025-66516

CVE.ORG link : CVE-2025-66516

JSON object : View

Products Affected

apache

tika

CWE

CWE-611

Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

{"id": "CVE-2025-66516", "cveTags": [], "metrics": {"cvssMetricV31": [{"type": "Primary", "source": "nvd@nist.gov", "cvssData": {"scope": "UNCHANGED", "version": "3.1", "baseScore": 9.8, "attackVector": "NETWORK", "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL", "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H", "integrityImpact": "HIGH", "userInteraction": "NONE", "attackComplexity": "LOW", "availabilityImpact": "HIGH", "privilegesRequired": "NONE", "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH"}, "impactScore": 5.9, "exploitabilityScore": 3.9}], "cvssMetricV40": [{"type": "Secondary", "source": "security@apache.org", "cvssData": {"Safety": "NOT_DEFINED", "version": "4.0", "Recovery": "NOT_DEFINED", "baseScore": 10.0, "Automatable": "NOT_DEFINED", "attackVector": "NETWORK", "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL", "valueDensity": "NOT_DEFINED", "vectorString": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X", "exploitMaturity": "NOT_DEFINED", "providerUrgency": "NOT_DEFINED", "userInteraction": "NONE", "attackComplexity": "LOW", "attackRequirements": "NONE", "privilegesRequired": "NONE", "subIntegrityImpact": "HIGH", "vulnIntegrityImpact": "HIGH", "integrityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedAttackVector": "NOT_DEFINED", "subAvailabilityImpact": "HIGH", "vulnAvailabilityImpact": "HIGH", "availabilityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedUserInteraction": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedAttackComplexity": "NOT_DEFINED", "subConfidentialityImpact": "HIGH", "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "HIGH", "confidentialityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedAttackRequirements": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedPrivilegesRequired": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedSubIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedVulnIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED", "vulnerabilityResponseEffort": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedSubAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedVulnAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedSubConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED", "modifiedVulnConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED"}}]}, "published": "2025-12-04T17:15:57.120", "references": [{"url": "https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-54988", "tags": ["Third Party Advisory"], "source": "security@apache.org"}, {"url": "https://lists.apache.org/thread/s5x3k93nhbkqzztp1olxotoyjpdlps9k", "tags": ["Vendor Advisory"], "source": "security@apache.org"}], "vulnStatus": "Analyzed", "weaknesses": [{"type": "Secondary", "source": "security@apache.org", "description": [{"lang": "en", "value": "CWE-611"}]}], "descriptions": [{"lang": "en", "value": "Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF. \n\nThis CVE covers the same vulnerability as in\u00a0CVE-2025-54988. However, this CVE expands the scope of affected packages in two ways. \n\nFirst, while the entrypoint for the vulnerability was the tika-parser-pdf-module as reported in CVE-2025-54988, the vulnerability and its fix were in tika-core. Users who upgraded the tika-parser-pdf-module but did not upgrade tika-core to >= 3.2.2 would still be vulnerable. \n\nSecond, the original report failed to mention that in the 1.x Tika releases, the PDFParser was in the \"org.apache.tika:tika-parsers\" module."}], "lastModified": "2025-12-18T14:49:51.333", "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"}]}], "sourceIdentifier": "security@apache.org"}