XML External Entity injection in assertj - CVE-2026-24400
Published: April 6, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU124873
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-24400
CWE-ID: CWE-611
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: AssertJ
Affected software:
assertj
assertj
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to gain access to sensitive information.
The vulnerability exists due to `org.assertj.core.util.xml.XmlStringPrettyFormatter`: the `toXmlDocument(String)` method initializes `DocumentBuilderFactory` with default settings, without disabling DTDs or external entities. A remote attacker can pass a specially crafted XML code to the affected application and view contents of arbitrary files 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.
How to mitigate CVE-2026-24400
Install updates from vendor's website.
Sources
- https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/XML_External_Entity_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet.html
- https://github.com/assertj/assertj/commit/85ca7eb6609bb179c043b85ae7d290523b1ba79a
- https://github.com/assertj/assertj/releases/tag/assertj-build-3.27.7
- https://github.com/assertj/assertj/security/advisories/GHSA-rqfh-9r24-8c9r