CVE-2025-66516
What it is
Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF. This CVE covers the same vulnerability as in CVE-2025-54988. However, this CVE expands the scope of affected packages in two ways. First, while the entrypoint for the vulnerability was the tika-parser-pdf-module as reported in CVE-2025-54988, the vulnerability and its fix were in tika-core. Users who upgraded the tika-parser-pdf-module but did not upgrade tika-core to >= 3.2.2 would still be vulnerable. Second, the original report failed to mention that in the 1.x Tika releases, the PDFParser was in the "org.apache.tika:tika-parsers" module.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited locally on the machine without logging in. High risk of data exposure, data tampering, service disruption.
- Exploit odds
- 89.0% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS). Higher than most.
- Fix
- A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.
Timeline
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Why it ranks here
- Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
- Exploit odds: 89.0% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Severity: 8.4 HIGH (CVSS).
- Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 89.0% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-611 · XML external entity
- Record status
- Modified
Affected
- Apache Tika < 3.2.2
Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 8.4
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Is it in your code?
Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.
Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2025-66516.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2025-66516. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.
