XXE in Apache Tika Tika-Parser-PDF-Module v1.13v3.2.1
CVE-2025-54988 Published on August 20, 2025
Apache Tika PDF parser module: XXE vulnerability in PDFParser's handling of XFA
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.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2025-54988 is exploitable with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. Public availability of a proof of concept (POC) exploit exists for CVE-2025-54988. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be critical as this vulnerability has a high impact to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this component.
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-2025-54988 has been classified to as a XXE vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2025-54988
stack.watch emails you whenever new vulnerabilities are published in Apache Tika or Oracle. Just hit a watch button to start following.
Affected Versions
Apache Software Foundation Apache Tika PDF parser module:- Version 1.13, <= 3.2.1 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.