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Not in CISA KEV
HIGH severity

CVE-2012-4399 — cakephp

HIGH

CVE-2012-4399 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in cakephp/cakephp. 3 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for cakephp/cakephp — see the affected versions and patch details below.

CakePHPallows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via XML data containing external entity references

Published
Updated
Affected
2 pkgs
Patched
2 / 2
Exploits
3 known
Exploitation data as of Nov 5, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
12.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Moderate Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs96th percentile — riskier than 96% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
8.24%15.1%21.9%28.8%24.9%12.1%May 26Sep 26Nov 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

2 pkgs affected
🐘cakephp/cakephp🐘cakephp/cakephp

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

The Xml class in CakePHP 2.1.x before 2.1.5 and 2.2.x before 2.2.1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via XML data containing external entity references, aka an XML external entity (XXE) injection attack.

Affected Packages

2 total 2 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐘Packagistcakephp/cakephp≥ 2.1.0-alpha&&< 2.1.52.1.5composer require cakephp/cakephp:^2.1.5
🐘Packagistcakephp/cakephp≥ 2.2.0-beta&&< 2.2.12.2.1composer require cakephp/cakephp:^2.2.1

Affected Products

1 product · 2 configurations
Application
cakephpcakefoundation
≥ 2.2.0 && < 2.2.1
range
Exploits & PoCs
3

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-19863webappsphp✓ Verified

CakePHP 2.x < 2.2.0-RC2 - XML External Entity Injection

by Pawel Wylecial · Jul 16, 2012

Exploit-DB Source

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for cakephp/cakephp, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update cakephp/cakephp to 2.1.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-4399 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Xml class in CakePHP 2.1.x before 2.1.5 and 2.2.x before 2.2.1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via XML data containing external entity references, aka an XML external entity (XXE) injection attack.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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CVE-2012-4399: cakephp XXE — Fixed in 2.1.5