CVE-2025-54988 | Apache Tika PDF parser module: XXE vulnerability in PDFParser's handling of XFA

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.

Published: 2025-08-20 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-54988 is rated High Risk (66.4/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.96%). EPSS rose +2.93% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-54988

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.03% 2.96% +2.93%
2 2025-12-05 0.06% 0.03% -0.02%
3 2025-09-21 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-54988

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.5 5.9 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-54988

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-54988

GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Apache Tika XXE Vulnerability via Crafted XFA File Inside a PDF

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-54988

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-54988 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (tika), 2 status rows across 2 suites (bullseye, sid): open 1, resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-54988
redhat critical — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-54988
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-54988 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (tika), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 7, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-54988

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-54988

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache tika >= 1.13, < 3.2.2 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tika:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-54988

cvelogic Threat Intelligence