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CVE-2025-54988

CriticalPublished

Apache Tika PDF parser module: XXE vulnerability in PDFParser's handling of XFA

Published: Aug 20, 2025
Updated: Feb 26, 2026
Assigning CNA: apache
Evidence observed: Aug 8, 2026

Primary CVSS

9.8/ 10Critical

nvd · CVSS 3.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS probability estimate

37.7%

Moderate · next 30 days

Percentile: 98.5%
Model date: Sep 21, 2026

EPSS is a statistical estimate, not a certainty or a measure of impact. Combine it with CVSS, KEV status, exposure and your environment.

Summary

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.

Sources

cve-2025-54988-VulnTikaProjectPoC
Deliberately vulnerable Spring Boot application using Apache Tika 3.2.1 for testing CVE-2025-54988 XXE exploitation via malicious PDF uploads.
POC-CVE-2025-54988PoC
A PDF generator for CVE-2025-54988

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