Skip to content
Fencer Intel
high 8.7

CVE-2026-54668 json

Kitodo.Production: XXE in XMLUtils EAD/XML upload parsers (parseXMLString / getNumberOfEADElements / checkIfXmlIsWellFormed lack secure JAXP config)

published 4mo ago modified 13d ago also EUVD-2026-109091 , GHSA-mff2-fpqj-jg4q

Unreviewed: the maintainers' own advisory

Published by the maintainers on their GitHub repository kitodo/kitodo-production. GitHub has not reviewed it into the GitHub Advisory Database, so the affected packages and versions are the maintainers' word. Read the full advisory on GitHub.

cvss
8.7
version 4.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 23%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Kitodo.Production is a workflow management tool for mass digitization and is part of the Kitodo Digital Library Suite. Prior to version 3.9.2, org.kitodo.production.helper.XMLUtils exposes several XML parsing helpers that construct a JAXP parser with the default, non-secure configuration. The methods parseXMLString(String), getNumberOfEADElements(String, String) and checkIfXmlIsWellFormed(String) build a DocumentBuilderFactory / XMLInputFactory / SAXParserFactory via newInstance() and parse the attacker-supplied string without disabling DOCTYPE declarations or external entity resolution. These helpers sit directly on the EAD-import path: an authenticated user who uploads an EAD/XML file through the "Create process" file-upload dialog has the uploaded bytes parsed by these methods. A crafted document with an external entity therefore yields XML External Entity (XXE) injection: local file disclosure and outbound SSRF requests from the server. This issue has been patched in version 3.9.2.

Patch / fix

Is CVE-2026-54668 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
13d ago

Exploit prediction

0.30% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 23% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/kitodo/kitodo-production/security/advisories/GHSA-mff2-fpqj-jg4q referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 4.0 8.7 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CNA 4.0 8.7 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Affected products

  • kitodo kitodo-production

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.

The maintainers of kitodo/kitodo-production published their own advisory on GitHub. Reviewed sources take precedence over it.