ReviewCritical

CVE-2020-10683

dom4j, agile product lifecycle management

dom4j before 2.0.3 and 2.1.x before 2.1.3 allows external DTDs and External Entities by default, which might enable XXE attacks. However, there is popular external documentation from OWASP showing how to enable the safe, non-default behavior in any application that uses dom4j.

CVSS
9.8
EPSS
7.27%
93.9% percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Published
2020.05.02
PRIORITY ASSESSMENT

Review

The CVSS severity warrants an early asset and exposure review.

Known exploitationNot established by KEV
Exploit probability7.27%
Technical severityCVSS 9.8

Vulnerability overview

dom4j before 2.0.3 and 2.1.x before 2.1.3 allows external DTDs and External Entities by default, which might enable XXE attacks. However, there is popular external documentation from OWASP showing how to enable the safe, non-default behavior in any application that uses dom4j.

Affected product and versions

Product
dom4j, agile product lifecycle management
Affected versions
< 2.0.3, >= 2.1.0 < 2.1.3, 9.3.3, 9.3.5, 13.3.0.1, >= 2.4.0 <= 2.10.0, 12.2.1.3.0, 12.2.1.4.0, 3.9m0p1, >= 8.0.0 <= 8.2.2, 7.3.0, 7.4.0, >= 12.6.0 <= 12.6.4, 3.2.0, 11.1.1.9.0, 13.4.0.0, >= 8.0.6 <= 8.1.0, 11.7.0, 11.8.0, 11.9.0
Fixed versions
2.0.3, 2.1.3

Recommended response sequence

Confirm exposure before applying a vendor-supported change.

Full remediation guide
  1. 1
    Identify

    Confirm that dom4j, agile product lifecycle management and an affected version are present.

  2. 2
    Prioritize

    Combine exploitation signals with asset exposure and business criticality.

  3. 3
    Remediate

    Follow the vendor advisory or supported update path and preserve rollback options.

  4. 4
    Verify

    Recheck the version, service health, access paths, and relevant logs.

Technical data

CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE
CWE-611