XML external entity injection in Apache Commons Jelly
Priority MEDIUM 53CWE-611Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and GitHub.
Summary
During Jelly (xml) file parsing with Apache Xerces, if a custom doctype entity is declared with a "SYSTEM" entity with a URL and that entity is used in the body of the Jelly file, during parser instantiation the parser will attempt to connect to said URL. This could lead to XML External Entity (XXE) attacks in Apache Commons Jelly before 1.0.1.
Why it matters now
EPSS 0.0813 94th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed commons-jelly:commons-jelly (Maven): 1.0.1
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache | Apache Commons Jelly | 1.0 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | commons-jelly:commons-jelly (Maven) | before 1.0.1 | 1.0.1 | Patch available | GHSA-6g33-82gc-3pw5 |
- Apache Commons Jelly VendorApache Affected 1.0 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- commons-jelly:commons-jelly (Maven) Vendor— Affected before 1.0.1 Fixed in 1.0.1 Patch available GHSA-6g33-82gc-3pw5
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-6g33-82gc-3pw5 commons-jelly:commons-jelly (Maven) Fixed in 1.0.1 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2017-12621
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-6g33-82gc-3pw5
References
Other 5
- [dev] 20170927 [SECURITY] CVE-2017-12621 Apache Commons Jelly connects to URL with custom doctype definitions.
- https://github.com/apache/commons-jelly
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/f1fc3f2c45264af44ce782d54b5908ac95f02bf7ad88bb57bfb04b73@%3Cdev.commons.apache.org%3E
- https://web.archive.org/web/20200227144849/http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101052
- https://web.archive.org/web/20210303081618/http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039444
Sources
- CVE-2017-12621 · CVE Program
- CVE-2017-12621 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-6g33-82gc-3pw5 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2017-12621 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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