XML External Entity injection in Apache POI

1) XML External Entity injection

EUVDB-ID: #VU22545

Risk: High

CVSSv3.1: 7.1 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-12415

CWE-ID: CWE-611 - Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference ('XXE')

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to gain access to sensitive information.

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient validation of user-supplied XML input when using the tool XSSFExportToXml to convert user-provided Microsoft Excel documents. A remote attacker can pass a specially crafted XML code to the affected application and read files from the local filesystem or from internal network resources on the system or initiate requests to external systems.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may allow an attacker to view contents of arbitrary file on the server or perform network scanning of internal and external infrastructure.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Apache POI: 0.1 - 4.1.0

External links

http://lists.apache.org/thread.html/13a54b6a03369cfb418a699180ffb83bd727320b6ddfec198b9b728e@%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
http://lists.apache.org/thread.html/2ac0327748de0c2b3c1c012481b79936797c711724e0b7da83cf564c@%3Cuser.tika.apache.org%3E
http://lists.apache.org/thread.html/895164e03a3c327449069e2fd6ced0367561878b3ae6a8ec740c2007@%3Cuser.tika.apache.org%3E

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.