A vulnerability has been found in Apache Tika up to 1.12 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects an unknown code block of the component XML Parser. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a xml external entity reference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-611. The product 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. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Apache Tika before 1.13 does not properly initialize the XML parser or choose handlers, which might allow remote attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via vectors involving (1) spreadsheets in OOXML files and (2) XMP metadata in PDF and other file formats, a related issue to CVE-2016-2175.

The bug was discovered 05/26/2016. The weakness was released 09/30/2017 as not defined posting (Bugtraq). The advisory is available at securityfocus.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2016-4434 since 05/02/2016. The attack can be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is required for a successful exploitation. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available.

The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 491 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $5k-$25k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 120477 (Fedora 28 : tika (2018-639385f5ec)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Fedora Local Security Checks and running in the context l.

Upgrading to version 1.13 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published 8 months after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (120477). Entry connected to this vulnerability is available at 93555.

Productinfo

Vendor

• Apache

Name

• Tika

Version

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 1.2
• 1.3
• 1.4
• 1.5
• 1.6
• 1.7
• 1.8
• 1.9
• 1.10
• 1.11
• 1.12

License

• open-source

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