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Vulnerability record · CVE-2018-11796 · published 9 October 2018

CVE-2018-11796: Apache tika xml external entity (xxe) vulnerability

Apache · Tika

In Apache Tika 1.19 (CVE-2018-11761), we added an entity expansion limit for XML parsing. However, Tika reuses SAXParsers and calls reset() after each parse, which, for Xerces2 parsers, as per the documentation, removes the user-specified SecurityManager and thus removes entity expansion limits after the first parse. Apache Tika versions from 0.1 to 1.19 are therefore still vulnerable to entity expansions which can lead to a denial of service attack. Users should upgrade to 1.19.1 or later.

7.5 CVSS 3.0 High EPSS 6.9% · top 6.2% CWE-611 · XML external entity (XXE)
7.5CVSS 3.0 base score, v2 5.0
6.9%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
8References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

In Apache Tika 1.19 (CVE-2018-11761), we added an entity expansion limit for XML parsing. However, Tika reuses SAXParsers and calls reset() after each parse, which, for Xerces2 parsers, as per the documentation, removes the user-specified SecurityManager and thus removes entity expansion limits after the first parse. Apache Tika versions from 0.1 to 1.19 are therefore still vulnerable to entity expansions which can lead to a denial of service attack. Users should upgrade to 1.19.1 or later.

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105585 Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3892
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/88de8350cda9b184888ec294c813c5bd8a2081de8fd3666f8904bc05%40%3Cdev.tika.apache.org%3
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190903-0002/
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105585 Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3892
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/88de8350cda9b184888ec294c813c5bd8a2081de8fd3666f8904bc05%40%3Cdev.tika.apache.org%3
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190903-0002/

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2018-11796), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.