---
title: "CVE-2025-66516: Apache Tika has XXE vulnerability"
url: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2025-66516/
description: "CVE-2025-66516 (org.apache.tika:tika-core (Maven)): Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers…"
type: vulnerability-record
section: "Security Digest"
date_published: 2025-12-04
date_modified: 2026-02-26
publisher: erroneo.us
author: erroneo.us Security Desk
cve: "CVE-2025-66516"
kev: false
cvss: 10.0
epss: 0.88976
license: All rights reserved. Quote with attribution and a link.
---

# CVE-2025-66516: Apache Tika has XXE vulnerability

**Signal:** High exploit likelihood. EPSS ranks it in the top 5% of all CVEs for likely exploitation in the next 30 days. (Computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS; not an editorial verdict.)

## Should you act?

- Not in CISA KEV , but CISA’s SSVC assessment records a public proof-of-concept, so attack code exists.
- EPSS 89.0% , percentile 99.8: FIRST’s model estimates a 89.0% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 99.8% of all scored CVEs (very high). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
- Remotely reachable with no login and no user interaction. If the vulnerable service is exposed to the internet, prioritize it.
- Only applies if your dependency tree includes org.apache.tika:tika-core (Maven) >= 1.13, <= 3.2.1, fixed in 3.2.2 ; org.apache.tika:tika-parsers (Maven) >= 1.13, < 2.0.0, fixed in 2.0.0 ; org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module (Maven) >= 2.0.0, <= 3.2.1, fixed in 3.2.2 . Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

## What it is

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.

## Affected packages

- Maven `org.apache.tika:tika-core` >= 1.13, <= 3.2.1 → fixed: 3.2.2
- Maven `org.apache.tika:tika-parsers` >= 1.13, < 2.0.0 → fixed: 2.0.0
- Maven `org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module` >= 2.0.0, <= 3.2.1 → fixed: 3.2.2

## Affected products (CVE record)

- Apache Software Foundation Apache Tika core: 1.13 <= 3.2.1
- Apache Software Foundation Apache Tika parsers: 1.13 < 2.0.0
- Apache Software Foundation Apache Tika PDF parser module: 2.0.0 <= 3.2.1

## Severity

- apache CVSS 3.1: 8.4 `CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
- GitHub CVSS 4.0: 10.0 `CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H`

## Exploitation

- CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
- CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation poc , automatable no , technical impact total .
- FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 88.98% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 99.8.

## Sources

- [lists.apache.org](https://lists.apache.org/thread/s5x3k93nhbkqzztp1olxotoyjpdlps9k)
- [GitHub Advisory GHSA-f58c-gq56-vjjf](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f58c-gq56-vjjf)
- [CVE.org record CVE-2025-66516](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-66516)
- [NVD entry CVE-2025-66516](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-66516)
- [cve.org](https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-54988)

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Source page: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2025-66516/ · Security Digest: https://erroneo.us/security/ · More: https://erroneo.us/llms.txt