Know every vulnerabilitybefore it knows you.
DevGuard continuously monitors your dependencies and alerts you when CVEs like this one affect your stack — with real-time threat intelligence built for developers.
GHSA-jj54-8f66-c5pc
No affected components available
Summary
GeoServer Web Feature Service (WFS) web service was found to be vulnerable to GeoTools CVE-2025-30220 XML External Entity (XXE) processing attack.
It is possible to trigger the parsing of external DTDs and entities, bypassing standard entity resolvers. This allows for Out-of-Band (OOB) data exfiltration of local files accessible by the GeoServer process, and Service Side Request Forgery (SSRF).
Details
While direct entity resolution is managed by application property ENTITY_RESOLUTION_ALLOWLIST for XML Parsing, this restriction was not being used by the GeoTools library when building an in-memory XSD Library Schema representation.
This bypasses GeoServer's AllowListEntityResolver enabling XXE attacks.
PoC
No public PoC is provided but this vulnerability has been confirmed to be exploitable through WFS service.
Impact
-
Information Disclosure:
This vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary files from the server's filesystem that are accessible to the GeoServer process.
This can lead to exposure of sensitive information including configuration files, credentials, and system files. The attack can be performed remotely without authentication, making it particularly severe.
-
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
The mechanism inherently allows forcing GeoServer to make HTTP requests to arbitrary URLs, enabling SSRF attacks against internal network resources
References
- CVE-2025-30220 XML External Entity (XXE) Processing Vulnerability in XSD schema handling
- External Entities Resolution (GeoServer User Manual)
Acknowledgements
This vulnerability was initially reported via an automated tool described below. Subsequently a duplicate report via @YacineF, and their patience working with the GeoServer project, was instrumental finding in escalating this issue and determining a resolution.
XBOW-025-068 Disclaimer
This vulnerability was detected using XBOW, a system that autonomously finds and exploits potential security vulnerabilities. The finding has been thoroughly reviewed and validated by a security researcher before submission. While XBOW is intended to work autonomously, during its development human experts ensure the accuracy and relevance of its reports.
The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker does not need any special privileges or access rights. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The impact is confined to the system where the vulnerability exists. There is a high impact on the confidentiality of the information. There is a low impact on the availability of the system.
Exploitation activity has been observed. Apply available patches or mitigations urgently.
The exploit probability is high. The vulnerability is very likely to be exploited in the next 30 days.
We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.
Browse More
Continuously monitor your dependencies and get alerted when vulnerabilities like this one affect your stack.
Checkout DevGuard