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CVE-2025-66516

8.4 · HIGH

Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injecti…

Published Dec 4, 2025CWE-611EPSS 88.98%

Overview

CVE-2025-66516 is a high-severity vulnerability. It was published on December 4, 2025 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.4 (HIGH).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.4, rated HIGH. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

Technical description

Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF.

This CVE covers the same vulnerability as in CVE-2025-54988. However, this CVE expands the scope of affected packages in two ways.

First, while the entrypoint for the vulnerability was the tika-parser-pdf-module as reported in CVE-2025-54988, the vulnerability and its fix were in tika-core. Users who upgraded the tika-parser-pdf-module but did not upgrade tika-core to >= 3.2.2 would still be vulnerable.

Second, the original report failed to mention that in the 1.x Tika releases, the PDFParser was in the "org.apache.tika:tika-parsers" module.

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

References

Refcve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-54988Reflists.apache.org/thread/s5x3k93nhbkqzztp1olxotoyjpdlps9k

How CyberStrike helps

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-66516?

CVE-2025-66516 is a high-severity vulnerability. It was published on December 4, 2025 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.4 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2025-66516?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.4, rated HIGH. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2025-66516?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2025-66516?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2025-66516 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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