CVE-2026-23907 | Apache PDFBox Examples: Path Traversal in PDFBox ExtractEmbeddedFiles Example Code

This issue affects the ExtractEmbeddedFiles example in Apache PDFBox: from 2.0.24 through 2.0.35, from 3.0.0 through 3.0.6. The ExtractEmbeddedFiles example contains a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) because the filename that is obtained from PDComplexFileSpecification.getFilename() is appended to the extraction path. Users who have copied this example into their production code should review it to ensure that the extraction path is acceptable. The example has been changed accordingly, now the initial path and the extraction paths are converted into canonical paths and it is verified that extraction path contains the initial path. The documentation has also been adjusted.

Published: 2026-03-10 Last update: 2026-03-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-23907 is rated Low Risk (25.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2026-23907

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 2026-05-05 0.05% 0.04% -0.01%
2 2026-03-16 0.02% 0.05% +0.03%
3 2026-03-10 0.02%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-23907

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N 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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 1.4 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-23907

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-23907

GHSA-jjwr-xmw6-gf78 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: maven — Apache PDFBox has Path Traversal through PDComplexFileSpecification.getFilename() function

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-23907

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2026-23907 unimportant priority: Debian including 2 source packages (libpdfbox-java, libpdfbox2-java), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-23907
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23907
suse medium CVE-2026-23907 severity moderate: SUSE including 2 source package names (apache-pdfbox, apache-pdfbox-javadoc), 18 product×package rows across 15 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS, … (15 product lines)): Known Not Affected 18. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23907/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-23907 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (libpdfbox-java, libpdfbox2-java), 13 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 13. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-23907

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-23907

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache pdfbox >= 2.0.24, <= 2.0.35 cpe:2.3:a:apache:pdfbox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache pdfbox >= 3.0.0, <= 3.0.7 cpe:2.3:a:apache:pdfbox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-23907

cvelogic Threat Intelligence