CVE-2019-0228 — Apache PDFBox 2

Apache PDFBox 2.0.14 does not properly initialize the XML parser, which allows context-dependent attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via a crafted XFDF.

01What is this vulnerability?

Apache PDFBox 2.0.14 does not properly initialize the XML parser, which allows context-dependent attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via a crafted XFDF.

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
n	a / Apache PDFBox	Apache PDFBox 2.0.14

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2019-04-17T14:07:34.000Z
• Last modified: 2024-08-04T17:44:15.952Z

09References

• lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/bc8db1bf459f1ad909da47350ed554ee745abe9f25f…
• lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/be86fcd7cd423a3fe6b73a3cb9d7cac0b619d0deb99…
• lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/8a19bd6d43e359913341043c2a114f91f9e4ae17005…
• lists.fedoraproject.org — https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedorapro…
• lists.fedoraproject.org — https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedorapro…
• www.oracle.com — https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2020.html
• lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r32b8102392a174b17fd19509a9e76047f74852b77b…
• lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r0a2141abeddae66dd57025f1681c8425834062b7c0…
• www.oracle.com — https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html
• lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/1a3756557f8cb02790b7183ccf7665ae23f608a421c…
• www.oracle.com — https://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html
• www.oracle.com — https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html