Gradle OOB-XXE XML External Entity Parsing Vulnerability (Fixed v7.6.3/8.4)
CVE-2023-42445 Published on October 6, 2023
Possible local file exfiltration by XML External entity injection
Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation and support for multi-language development. In some cases, when Gradle parses XML files, resolving XML external entities is not disabled. Combined with an Out Of Band XXE attack (OOB-XXE), just parsing XML can lead to exfiltration of local text files to a remote server. Gradle parses XML files for several purposes. Most of the time, Gradle parses XML files it generated or were already present locally. Only Ivy XML descriptors and Maven POM files can be fetched from remote repositories and parsed by Gradle. In Gradle 7.6.3 and 8.4, resolving XML external entities has been disabled for all use cases to protect against this vulnerability. Gradle will now refuse to parse XML files that have XML external entities.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2023-42445 can be exploited with network access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a high impact on confidentiality, with no impact on integrity, and a high impact on availability.
Weakness Type
What is a XXE Vulnerability?
The software processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.
CVE-2023-42445 has been classified to as a XXE vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2023-42445
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Affected Versions
gradle:- Version < 8.4 is affected.
- Version < 7.6.3 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.