# Apache Tika XXE Vulnerability via Crafted XFA File Inside a PDF

Advisory record · `GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x`

- **Identifiers:** `GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x` · `CVE-2025-54988`
- **State:** Confirmed
- **Severity:** CVSS 8.4 High
- **Critical:** Yes: CVSS 7+ and EPSS
- **Weakness (CWE):** [CWE-611](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/611.html)
- **Tags:** [XML external entities (XXE)](https://agentprime.io/advisories/tag/xxe.md)
- **Published:** 20 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 10 Sept 2026
- **Reviewed by a person:** No

Published by the GitHub Advisory Database at 20 Aug 2025, 21:30 UTC. agentprime has not analysed this yet, so whether it affects any app is not known.

## Critical

Critical, because:

- CVSS score 8.4 (7.0 or more) and EPSS 0.48 (0.1 or more): a high score and a real chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How we decide what’s critical: <https://agentprime.io/advisories/critical.md>

## Affected packages

- `org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module` (Maven): affected `>=1.13, <3.2.2`; fixed in `3.2.2`
- `org.apache.tika:tika-parsers` (Maven): affected `>=1.13, <2.0.0-ALPHA`; fixed in `2.0.0-ALPHA`

## Machine-written summary

Summary written by Claude Haiku from the source advisory. Not reviewed by a person.

> Apache Tika's tika-parser-pdf-module is vulnerable from version 1.13 through 3.2.1, and the tika-parsers package is affected from 1.13 before 2.0.0-ALPHA. An attacker who can supply a crafted PDF containing a malicious XFA file can perform XML External Entity injection, which may allow reading sensitive data or triggering requests to internal or third-party servers. Upgrade tika-parser-pdf-module to 3.2.2; the tika-parsers package is fixed in 2.0.0-ALPHA.

Written 2 Nov 2026.

## Not analysed yet

We haven’t published our analysis of this Advisory yet. Once a person has reviewed it, this page will say what’s vulnerable, what has to be true for your app to be affected, and how to check.

## Severity and exploitation

- 8.4 High, CVSS 3.1: `CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`, from CNA (apache)

- **CISA KEV:** Not listed.
- **EPSS:** 0.48, the 98th percentile, on 8 Nov 2026: FIRST’s estimate of the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

## Timeline

- 31 Oct 2026, 14:17 UTC: First seen by agentprime
- 31 Oct 2026, 14:17 UTC: [Confirmed by OSV](https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x)

## Sources

- [GitHub Advisory Database: GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x)
- [OSV: GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x](https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x)
- <https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-54988>
- <https://github.com/apache/tika/pull/2291>
- <https://github.com/apache/tika/commit/2b52257304f4d3cde2b8463657380bdb936d9ef2>
- <https://archive.apache.org/dist/tika/3.2.2/CHANGES-3.2.2.txt>
- <https://github.com/apache/tika>
- <https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/TIKA-4459>
- <https://lists.apache.org/thread/8xn3rqy6kz5b3l1t83kcofkw0w4mmj1w>
- <https://lists.apache.org/thread/stn9oh7rfn9yv76n1srxr9w56oy04p72>
- <https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00030.html>
- <http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/08/20/2>
- <http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/08/20/3>

Facts on this page come from the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0), OSV and the other sources listed, as published. We don’t reproduce full advisory descriptions, which can contain exploit code.

## Check whether this affects you

A Match means an installed version is in the affected range above. Most don’t affect the app; agentprime hasn’t analysed this one yet.

- With the agentprime MCP server (<https://api.agentprime.io/mcp>), ask your agent to check the project: `check_lockfile` sends a lockfile, `check_packages` a list of installed packages, and both return the Matches and the upgrades that clear them. `get_advisory` returns this record. Setup: <https://agentprime.io/mcp.md>
- In a browser: <https://agentprime.io/check/> reads your lockfile in the browser, never uploading it.
- Whether it touches your code, with file and line: the Claude Code plugin, <https://agentprime.io/plugin.md>
- As JSON: <https://api.agentprime.io/v1/advisories/GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x>, or `POST https://api.agentprime.io/v1/match` with your packages (<https://agentprime.io/api.md>)

---

The web page: <https://agentprime.io/advisories/GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x/>. Everything for agents: <https://agentprime.io/llms.txt>.