Apache SIS has Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference vulnerability

CVE-2025-68280 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference vulnerability in Apache SIS.

It is possible to write XML files in such a way that, when parsed by Apache SIS, an XML file reveals to the attacker the content of a local file on the server running Apache SIS. This vulnerability impacts the following SIS services:

  • Reading of GeoTIFF files having the GEO_METADATA tag defined by the Defense Geospatial Information Working Group (DGIWG).

  • Parsing of ISO 19115 metadata in XML format.

  • Parsing of Coordinate Reference Systems defined in the GML format.

  • Parsing of files in GPS Exchange Format (GPX).

This issue affects Apache SIS from versions 0.4 through 1.5 inclusive. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 1.6, which will fix the issue. In the meantime, the security vulnerability can be avoided by launching Java with the javax.xml.accessExternalDTD system property sets to a comma-separated list of authorized protocols. For example:

java -Djavax.xml.accessExternalDTD="" ...

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
—
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-01-05 15:32:15 UTC
Updated
2026-01-05 23:14:58 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-01-05 23:14:54 UTC
NVD published
2026-01-05

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.06% 17.89%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
6.5 3.1 —
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-jqmr-2pg9-vfx7 ↗
CVE CVE-2025-68280 ↗

CWEs

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

Affected packages (1)

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

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
maven org.apache.sis.core:sis-metadata >= 0.4, < 1.6 1.6 —

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence