Vulnerability identifier: #VU40255

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 6.8 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2016-2175

CWE-ID: CWE-20

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
PDFBox
Universal components / Libraries / Libraries used by multiple products
Debian Linux
Operating systems & Components / Operating system

Vendor: Apache Foundation
Debian

Description

The vulnerability allows a local authenticated user to execute arbitrary code.

Apache PDFBox before 1.8.12 and 2.x before 2.0.1 does not properly initialize the XML parsers, which allows context-dependent attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via a crafted PDF. <a href="http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/611.html">CWE-611: Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference ('XXE')</a>

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

PDFBox: 1.8.0 - 2.0

Debian Linux: 1.8.0 - 8.0

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External links
http://mail-archives.us.apache.org/mod_mbox/www-announce/201605.mbox/%3C83a03bcf-f86b-4688-37b5-615c080291d8@apache.org%3E
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/137214/Apache-PDFBox-1.8.11-2.0.0-XML-Injection.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0179.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0248.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0249.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0272.html
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc?view=revision&revision=1739564
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc?view=revision&revision=1739565
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3606
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/538503/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/90902
http://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ad5fbc86c1d1821ae1b963e8561ab6d6a5f66b2848e84f5a31477f54@%3Ccommits.tika.apache.org%3E

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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