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Fencer Intel
high 7.5

CVE-2019-9843 json

Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference in DiffPlug Spotless

published 7y ago modified 4mo ago also GHSA-7v35-qwwj-p98g , EUVD-2019-0583

cvss
7.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.5%
EPSS 1.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 74%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In DiffPlug Spotless before 1.20.0 (library and Maven plugin) and before 3.20.0 (Gradle plugin), the XML parser would resolve external entities over both HTTP and HTTPS and didn't respect the resolveExternalEntities setting. For example, this allows disclosure of file contents to a MITM attacker if a victim performs a spotlessApply operation on an untrusted XML file.

Patch / fix

  • maven com.diffplug.spotless:spotless-plugin-gradle 3.20.0
  • maven com.diffplug.spotless:spotless-maven-plugin 1.20.0
  • diffplug gradle 3.20.0
  • diffplug maven 1.20.0

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Exploit prediction

1.50% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 74% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 5.1 AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
GitHub 3.0 7.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
maven com.diffplug.spotless:spotless-plugin-gradle
<3.20.0
3.20.0
maven com.diffplug.spotless:spotless-maven-plugin
<1.20.0
1.20.0

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-611 Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.