`CVE-2025-54988` Apache Tika

Affected software	Apache Tika
Severity	9.8 Critical CVSS 3.1 2 scores
Fixed in	`3.2.2`
Weakness	XML external entity (XXE) (CWE-611)
Published	20 Aug 2025
Updated	17 Jun 2026

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.

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 · 1 exploit · earliest 2026-10-28.
CISA Vulnrichment exploitation: poc CISA recorded that an exploit has been demonstrated. Automatable: no, technical impact: total.
Indexed PoC 3 indexed Published artifacts you can open, in GitHub PoC, Nuclei; first seen 2025-09-04.
EPSS 36% chance in 30 days A model's forecast, not a report of exploitation. Higher than 99% of all scored CVEs.

VulnCheck KEV

Exploitation evidence from VulnCheck Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (VulnCheck KEV), used under VulnCheck's community terms. View CVE-2025-54988 in VulnCheck (free account).

Evidence	Source	Detail	Date
Reported exploitation	previdian.com	/CVE-2025-54988	2026-10-28
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 36d0de4fdc38	Exploit type: infoleak	2025-09-04

Evidence

Source

Detail

Date

Reported exploitation

previdian.com

/CVE-2025-54988

2026-10-28

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 36d0de4fdc38

Exploit type: infoleak

2025-09-04

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	A PDF generator for CVE-2025-54988	20	2025-09-04
GitHub PoC	Creating a vulnerable instance to test against		2025-12-17
Nuclei	Apache Tika - XXE Injection

Index

Artifact

Stars

First seen

GitHub PoC

A PDF generator for CVE-2025-54988

2025-09-04

GitHub PoC

Creating a vulnerable instance to test against

2025-12-17

Nuclei

Apache Tika - XXE Injection

Waratek protection

Protected by Waratek

Waratek has a rule that blocks attacks on this vulnerability.

Protection full XXE
Action available security rule
Review automated Inferred
Record active

Decided by	A vulnerability class already blocked by an ARMR security rule
Finding	Protected by Waratek's ARMR xxe security rule, which blocks this class of attack at the JVM level without a rule written for this CVE specifically. The CVE's weakness is CWE-611: XML External Entity Reference.

Decided by

A vulnerability class already blocked by an ARMR security rule

Finding

Protected by Waratek's ARMR xxe security rule, which blocks this class of attack at the JVM level without a rule written for this CVE specifically. The CVE's weakness is CWE-611: XML External Entity Reference.

How to mitigate CVE-2025-54988

Upgrade Apache Tika to 3.2.2 or later. Until you can, Waratek RASP blocks exploitation with its XXE rule. It runs inside the Java application, with no code changes.

Waratek RASP Runtime protection for Java applications

CVSS

9.8 CRITICAL v3.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CISA-ADP Secondary published

CVSS 3.1 8.4 HIGH CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H security@apache.org Secondary

Version	Score	Band	Vector	Assigner	Type
CVSS 3.1	9.8	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`	CISA-ADP	Secondary	published
CVSS 3.1	8.4	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`	security@apache.org	Secondary

Affected software and releases

Oracle advisories

Advisory	Type	Quarter	Products Oracle names in its risk matrix
Oracle Critical Patch Update January 2026 ↗	CPU	2026-Q1	Oracle Fusion Middleware / Oracle Business Rules (Apache Commons Compress) (14.1.2.0.0)

Advisory

Type

Quarter

Products Oracle names in its risk matrix

Oracle Critical Patch Update January 2026 ↗

CPU

2026-Q1

Oracle Fusion Middleware / Oracle Business Rules (Apache Commons Compress) (14.1.2.0.0)

Oracle components and versions

Family	Component	Versions, as Oracle lists them	Read as
Oracle Fusion Middleware	Oracle Business Rules (Apache Commons Compress)	14.1.2.0.0	14.1.2.0.0

Family

Component

Versions, as Oracle lists them

Read as

Oracle Fusion Middleware

Oracle Business Rules (Apache Commons Compress)

14.1.2.0.0

Maven packages

Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev

Package Introduced Fixed Last affected

org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module 1.13 3.2.2 unbounded

org.apache.tika:tika-parsers 1.13 2.0.0-ALPHA unbounded

Package	Introduced	Fixed	Last affected
`org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module`	1.13	`3.2.2`	unbounded
`org.apache.tika:tika-parsers`	1.13	`2.0.0-ALPHA`	unbounded

Products and versions

3 products, 3 version entries

Source	Vendor	Product	Scheme	Affected versions
nvd	apache	tika	generic	≥ 1.13 and ＜ 3.2.2
osv	org.apache.tika	tika-parser-pdf-module	generic	≥ 1.13 and ＜ 3.2.2
osv	org.apache.tika	tika-parsers	generic	≥ 1.13 and ＜ 2.0.0

Source

Vendor

Product

Scheme

Affected versions

nvd

apache

tika

generic

≥ 1.13 and ＜ 3.2.2

osv

org.apache.tika

tika-parser-pdf-module

generic

≥ 1.13 and ＜ 3.2.2

osv

org.apache.tika

tika-parsers

generic

≥ 1.13 and ＜ 2.0.0

References

URL	Tags
https://github.com/apache/tika/pull/2291	WEB
https://github.com/apache/tika/commit/2b52257304f4d3cde2b8463657380bdb936d9ef2	WEB
https://archive.apache.org/dist/tika/3.2.2/CHANGES-3.2.2.txt	WEB
https://github.com/apache/tika	PACKAGE
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/TIKA-4459	WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread/8xn3rqy6kz5b3l1t83kcofkw0w4mmj1w	WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread/stn9oh7rfn9yv76n1srxr9w56oy04p72	WEB
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00030.html	WEB
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/08/20/2	WEB
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/08/20/3	WEB

URL

Timeline

Published	2025-08-20	By the CVE Program.
NVD record modified	2026-06-17	NVD's own last-modified date for this record.
VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence	2026-10-28	Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.

Published

2025-08-20

By the CVE Program.

NVD record modified

2026-06-17

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

VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence

2026-10-28

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

How VRT decided (17 of 24 rules ran)

17 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 no match A researcher's recorded decision for this specific CVE

5 manual classification no match Manual classification of this CVE in the legacy dataset

6 non-java-upstream no match A root cause in non-Java code: an OS kernel, a C library, or a bundled runtime

7 oracle-component no match 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 no match 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 matched In scope Maven packages: org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module, org.apache.tika:tika-parsers

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 no match A reference pointing at the upstream fix: a commit, a PR, a Red Hat bug

18 open-source-maven matched Mitigation candidate Open-source Maven artifact indexed by OSV (Maven packages: org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module, org.apache.tika:tika-parsers). The source is public, which makes an ARMR patch rule a candidate; nothing here establishes that one can be written.

19 poc-derivable skipped An indexed exploit clearing the evidence bar to reverse-engineer, where there is no source to read

20 no-exploit skipped 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 decided it matched Protected by Waratek CWE-611 (XML External Entity Reference) is mitigable by an ARMR xxe security rule.

22 exploited-no-fix-or-poc skipped 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 skipped 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 skipped 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

Products the scope rules checked

The products this CVE's record names, and whether VRT tracks each one. The scope rules decided on these.

Vendor Product Tracked CPE Source

apache tika tracked cpe:2.3:a:apache:tika:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* yaml

NVD ↗ · CVE.org ↗