CVE-2025-54988

HIGH LAB

Apache Tika 1.13-3.2.1 - XML External Entity Injection via Crafted XFA in PDF

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 2 public exploits for CVE-2025-54988. PoCs published by mgthuramoemyint, galoryber.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This repository contains a Python script to generate PDFs with XFA forms exploiting an XXE vulnerability (CVE-2025-54988). It supports local file reads and out-of-band data exfiltration via external DTDs.

Description

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.

Exploits (2)

nomisec WORKING POC 18 stars
by mgthuramoemyint · poc
https://github.com/mgthuramoemyint/POC-CVE-2025-54988

This repository contains a Python script to generate PDFs with XFA forms exploiting an XXE vulnerability (CVE-2025-54988). It supports local file reads and out-of-band data exfiltration via external DTDs.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Info Leak
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Adobe Acrobat/Reader (XFA form processing)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Python 3.x · Target application that processes XFA forms
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WORKING POC
by galoryber · poc
https://github.com/galoryber/cve-2025-54988-VulnTikaProject

This repository provides a Spring Boot application demonstrating CVE-2025-54988, an XXE vulnerability in Apache Tika 3.2.1. It includes endpoints to trigger the vulnerability via file uploads, specifically targeting PDF parsing methods.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Xxe
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Apache Tika 3.2.1
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Docker · malicious PDF file
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

Scores

CVSS v3 8.4
EPSS 0.0002
EPSS Percentile 6.1%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation poc
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Lab Environment

COMMUNITY
Community Lab
docker pull eclipse-temurin:11-jre-alpine

Details

CWE
CWE-611
Status published
Products (3)
apache/tika 1.13 - 3.2.2
org.apache.tika/tika-parser-pdf-module 1.13 - 3.2.2Maven
org.apache.tika/tika-parsers 1.13 - 2.0.0-ALPHAMaven
Published Aug 20, 2025
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026