Read the docs
TI-2025-34694 Aliases CVE-2025-54988GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x

Apache Tika PDF parser module: XXE vulnerability in PDFParser's handling of XFA

Priority HIGH 76CWE-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 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and GitHub.

Summary

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.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.47948 98th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module (Maven): 3.2.2org.apache.tika:tika-parsers (Maven): 2.0.0-ALPHA

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
ApacheApache Tika PDF parser module1.13 – 3.2.1—No fix listedCNA
—org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module (Maven)1.13 to before 3.2.23.2.2Patch availableGHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x
—org.apache.tika:tika-parsers (Maven)1.13 to before 2.0.0-ALPHA2.0.0-ALPHAPatch availableGHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x
  • Apache Tika PDF parser module VendorApache Affected 1.13 – 3.2.1 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
  • org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module (Maven) Vendor— Affected 1.13 to before 3.2.2 Fixed in 3.2.2 Patch available GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x
  • org.apache.tika:tika-parsers (Maven) Vendor— Affected 1.13 to before 2.0.0-ALPHA Fixed in 2.0.0-ALPHA Patch available GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:apache:tika:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*1.13 to before 3.2.2VulnerableApache
  • cpe:2.3:a:apache:tika:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 1.13 to before 3.2.2 Vulnerable ·Apache

Remediation

  • Fix · GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module (Maven) Fixed in 3.2.2 Advisory →
  • Fix · GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x org.apache.tika:tika-parsers (Maven) Fixed in 2.0.0-ALPHA Advisory →

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Critical. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 4 products
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 8
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack
  • Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-54988
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x

References

Advisory 2

Other 9

  • TI-2025-40938 XML external entity injection in Apache Tika core CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2018-01236 From Apache Tika versions 1.7 to 1.17, clients could send carefully crafted headers to… CVSS 3.0HIGH 8.1
  • TI-2016-05850 Apache Tika before 1.14 allows Java code execution for serialized objects embedded in… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2021-13169 An XXE issue in SAXBuilder in JDOM through 2.0.6 allows attackers to cause a denial of… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2019-07413 Resource allocation without limits in Apache Tika CVSS 3.0HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2018-08418 XML external entity injection in Apache Tika CVSS 3.0HIGH 7.5
See all 26 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences