XML External Entity (XXE) Injection in JDOM

Description

An XXE issue in SAXBuilder in JDOM through 2.0.6 allows attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted HTTP request. As a workaround, to avoid external entities being expanded, one can call builder.setExpandEntities(false) and they won't be expanded.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Source code
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Published (advisory)
2021-07-27 19:02:56 UTC
Updated
2025-09-16 15:06:11 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2021-07-27 19:02:41 UTC
NVD published
2021-06-16

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
1.39% 80.23%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
7.5 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-611 Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

Credits

  • paradoxengine (analyst)
  • AndrzejBiernacki2010 (analyst)

Affected packages (2)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
maven org.jdom:jdom2 < 2.0.6.1 2.0.6.1
maven org.jdom:jdom <= 2.0.2

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence