Skip to content

Possible XML External Entity injection via validation of CycloneDX BOMs in XML format

Moderate
nscuro published GHSA-93r8-3g93-w2gq Nov 17, 2025

Package

No package listed

Affected versions

>=4.11.0, <4.13.6

Patched versions

>=4.13.6

Description

Impact

Dependency-Track uses the org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-java library to validate and parse CycloneDX Bill of Materials.

As of version 4.11.0, Dependency-Track validates uploaded BOMs against the CycloneDX schema prior to processing them.
Unfortunately, the validator uses by cyclonedx-core-java was not securely configured, making it vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) injection.

In order to upload BOMs to Dependency-Track, clients must authenticate, and have the BOM_UPLOAD permission.

Patches

The vulnerability has been fixed in Dependency-Track version 4.13.6.

Workarounds

  • Validation of BOMs can be temporarily disabled.
  • Review which teams and users have the BOM_UPLOAD permission, potentially revoking it until a a fixed version is deployed.
  • Review and potentially revoke API keys that haven't been used in a while.

References

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L

CVE ID

No known CVE

Weaknesses

Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output. Learn more on MITRE.

Credits