`CVE-2018-1335` Apache Tika

Affected software	Apache Tika
Severity	8.1 High CVSS 3.0 2 scores
Fixed in	`1.18`
Published	25 Apr 2018
Updated	20 Oct 2026

Description

From Apache Tika versions 1.7 to 1.17, clients could send carefully crafted headers to tika-server that could be used to inject commands into the command line of the server running tika-server. This vulnerability only affects those running tika-server on a server that is open to untrusted clients. The mitigation is to upgrade to Tika 1.18.

Exploitation status

Exploited

Real-world exploitation reported by VulnCheck KEV. CISA has not confirmed it.

CISA KEV not listed
VulnCheck KEV listed Exploitation reported in the wild. 1 citation · honeypot sightings · 5 exploits · earliest 2023-12-05.
CISA Vulnrichment no assessment published
Indexed PoC 6 indexed Published artifacts you can open, in Exploit-DB, GitHub PoC, Metasploit, Nuclei; first seen 2019-03-13.
EPSS 94% chance in 30 days A model's forecast, not a report of exploitation. Higher than 99.8% of all scored CVEs.

VulnCheck KEV

Exploitation evidence from VulnCheck Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (VulnCheck KEV), used under VulnCheck's community terms. View CVE-2018-1335 in VulnCheck (free account).

Evidence	Source	Detail	Date
Honeypot sighting	Shadowserver honeypots	Exploitation attempts seen on 697 days	2023-12-05 to 2026-11-12
Reported exploitation	greynoise.io	/blog/coordinated-cloud-based-scanning-operation-targets-75-known-exposure-points	2025-05-27
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 147026ce3d31	Exploit type: initial-access	2020-02-11
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 8c09b09421ae	Exploit type: initial-access	2021-01-18
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 509c75796be5	Exploit type: initial-access	2021-03-26
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 03afb5c3d4bd	Exploit type: initial-access	2023-05-25
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB c9ddc2b4526e	Exploit type: initial-access	2024-06-06

Evidence

Source

Detail

Date

Honeypot sighting

Shadowserver honeypots

Exploitation attempts seen on 697 days

2023-12-05 to 2026-11-12

Reported exploitation

greynoise.io

/blog/coordinated-cloud-based-scanning-operation-targets-75-known-exposure-points

2025-05-27

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 147026ce3d31

Exploit type: initial-access

2020-02-11

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 8c09b09421ae

Exploit type: initial-access

2021-01-18

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 509c75796be5

Exploit type: initial-access

2021-03-26

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 03afb5c3d4bd

Exploit type: initial-access

2023-05-25

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB c9ddc2b4526e

Exploit type: initial-access

2024-06-06

1 of these are GitHub repositories with fewer than 5 stars. They are listed for reference and don't count toward the exploitation status above.

Index	Artifact	Stars	First seen
GitHub PoC	GUI版 EXP	14	2019-03-20
GitHub PoC	CENG 325 - Principles of Information Security And Privacy	1	2021-01-18
Exploit-DB	Apache Tika 1.15 - 1.17 - Header Command Injection (Metasploit)		2019-08-05
Exploit-DB	Apache Tika-server < 1.18 - Command Injection		2019-03-13
Nuclei	Apache Tika < 1.1.8 - Header Command Injection
Metasploit	Apache Tika Header Command Injection (excellent rank)

Index

Artifact

Stars

First seen

GitHub PoC

GUI版 EXP

2019-03-20

GitHub PoC

CENG 325 - Principles of Information Security And Privacy

2021-01-18

Exploit-DB

Apache Tika 1.15 - 1.17 - Header Command Injection (Metasploit)

2019-08-05

Exploit-DB

Apache Tika-server < 1.18 - Command Injection

2019-03-13

Nuclei

Apache Tika < 1.1.8 - Header Command Injection

Metasploit

Apache Tika Header Command Injection (excellent rank)

Waratek protection

Protected by Waratek

Waratek has a rule that blocks attacks on this vulnerability.

Protection full Process
Action available security rule
Review automated AI triage
Record active

Decided by	A researcher's recorded decision for this specific CVE
Finding	An AI triage run found this CVE protected by the ARMR Process rule.

Decided by

A researcher's recorded decision for this specific CVE

Finding

An AI triage run found this CVE protected by the ARMR Process rule.

Waratek research note

written 2026-11-13

Written by a Waratek engineer who reviewed this CVE. Their decision sets the status above, ahead of every automated rule except a withdrawal.

Comments

Rule Name: ARMR Process rule

OS command injection: the X-Tika-OCRTesseractPath and X-Tika-OCRLanguage headers make TesseractOCRParser.doOCR start a program the attacker picks through ProcessBuilder.start. The ARMR Process rule blocks it with execute("*") protecting and only Tesseract's install folder allowed by full path.

How to mitigate CVE-2018-1335

Upgrade Apache Tika to 1.18 or later. Until you can, Waratek RASP blocks exploitation with its process rule. It runs inside the Java application, with no code changes.

Waratek RASP Runtime protection for Java applications

CVSS

8.1 HIGH v3.0 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 2 metrics

We show the highest score from the newest CVSS version. Scores from different versions can't be compared, and the first score listed is sometimes a 0.0 placeholder.

Version Score Band Vector Assigner Type

CVSS 3.0 8.1 HIGH CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H NVD Primary published

CVSS 2.0 9.3 none AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C NVD Primary

Version	Score	Band	Vector	Assigner	Type
CVSS 3.0	8.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`	NVD	Primary	published
CVSS 2.0	9.3	none	`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`	NVD	Primary

Affected software and releases

Maven packages

Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev

Package Introduced Fixed Last affected

org.apache.tika:tika-core 1.7 1.18 unbounded

Package	Introduced	Fixed	Last affected
`org.apache.tika:tika-core`	1.7	`1.18`	unbounded

Products and versions

2 products, 2 version entries

Source	Vendor	Product	Scheme	Affected versions
nvd	apache	tika	generic	＜ 1.18
osv	org.apache.tika	tika-core	generic	≥ 1.7 and ＜ 1.18

Source

Vendor

Product

Scheme

Affected versions

nvd

apache

tika

generic

＜ 1.18

osv

org.apache.tika

tika-core

generic

≥ 1.7 and ＜ 1.18

References

URL	Tags
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3140	WEB
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9r24-gp44-h3pm	ADVISORY
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/b3ed4432380af767effd4c6f27665cc7b2686acccbefeb9f55851dca@%3Cdev.tika.apache.org%3E	WEB
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46540	WEB
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153864/Apache-Tika-1.17-Header-Command-Injection.html	WEB
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104001	WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/b3ed4432380af767effd4c6f27665cc7b2686acccbefeb9f55851dca%40%3Cdev.tika.apache.org%3E
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46540/	Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry

URL

Timeline

Published	2018-04-25	By the CVE Program.
VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence	2023-12-05	Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.
NVD record modified	2026-06-17	NVD's own last-modified date for this record.
Last VRT activity	2026-10-20	Most recent commit touching this CVE's classification, patch or rule file.
VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence	2026-11-12	Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.
Classification created	2026-11-13	First commit adding this CVE's research note.

Published

2018-04-25

By the CVE Program.

VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence

2023-12-05

Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.

NVD record modified

2026-06-17

NVD's own last-modified date for this record.

Last VRT activity

2026-10-20

Most recent commit touching this CVE's classification, patch or rule file.

VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence

2026-11-12

Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.

Classification created

2026-11-13

First commit adding this CVE's research note.

How VRT decided (4 of 24 rules ran)

4 of 24 rules ran. The rest didn't run because an earlier rule had already settled the CVE.

# Rule Outcome Status Detail

identity: Does this identifier describe a vulnerability at all? the first rule that matches decides

1 rejected no match CVE Program withdrawal of this identifier

scope: Is it a vulnerability Waratek protects? the first rule that matches decides

2 armr-patch-file no match An ARMR patch file on disk for this CVE

3 armr-secure-rule-file no match An ARMR security-rule template on disk for this CVE

4 manual-classification decided it matched Protected by Waratek An AI triage run found this CVE protected by the ARMR Process rule.

5 manual classification not reached Manual classification of this CVE in the legacy dataset

6 non-java-upstream not reached A root cause in non-Java code: an OS kernel, a C library, or a bundled runtime

7 oracle-component not reached The defect being in a component of a tracked product the agent does not reach: JavaFX, the Java SE installer, the JInitiator browser plug-in, the native WebLogic proxy plug-in, or a native part of Oracle Application Server or Collaboration Suite (HTTP Server, Web Cache, Internet Directory, mail and calendar servers). Oracle gives these no CPE of their own and names them only in the description.

8 java-client-side not reached Oracle's own risk-matrix note saying the CVE is reached only through untrusted code in the Java sandbox (applets, Web Start) or only through a client installation of Java, so a server running its own trusted code is not exposed

9 osv-maven not reached An OSV.dev record of this CVE affecting a package published to Maven Central. When every such package is one business applications do not use (Minecraft mods and launchers, Fastjson) and no tracked product is named by CPE, it settles the CVE as Outside Waratek scope instead

10 cna-maven-package not reached An affected Maven artifact named by the CNA itself

11 known-cpe-product not reached An NVD CPE naming a product ARMR tracks

12 cna-cpe-product not reached A CPE the CNA published naming a tracked product. Oracle publishes these on advisory day, months before NVD.

13 oracle-advisory-family not reached A tracked product family named in Oracle's own risk matrix. CPE cannot carry a suite name, only a module.

14 cna-named-product not reached A tracked product named in words by the CVE's own CNA, on a record with no CPE yet. Apache and Eclipse publish these on advisory day, before NVD adds CPE data.

15 non-deployable-product not reached The only affected product being a sealed appliance image, where Java runs but no -javaagent can be attached

16 unmatched-product not reached No tracked product matched above, and none present at all

disposition: What do we do about one that is? every rule runs

17 patch-hint not reached A reference pointing at the upstream fix: a commit, a PR, a Red Hat bug

18 open-source-maven not reached The affected package being open source on Maven, so the fix can be read

19 poc-derivable not reached An indexed exploit clearing the evidence bar to reverse-engineer, where there is no source to read

20 no-exploit not reached Nothing to build a rule from yet: no published exploit, no CISA record of exploitation and no source-level change to read

21 secure-rule-match not reached A vulnerability class already blocked by an ARMR security rule

22 exploited-no-fix-or-poc not reached Somebody exploiting this CVE (a CISA or VulnCheck KEV listing, or a CISA verdict of active exploitation), with no fix, source code or PoC to build a rule from

23 below-action-threshold not reached Medium or Low severity, no CISA or VulnCheck KEV listing, no PoC clearing the evidence bar, no CISA verdict, no Oracle advisory

24 no-exploit-published not reached Exploit code for this candidate, published in a reviewed catalogue or a GitHub repository with 5 or more stars, or in use per CISA or VulnCheck; not only a CISA verdict, a forecast, or nothing at all

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