CVE-2018-1335
HIGHCVE-2018-1335 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) vulnerability in org.apache.tika:tika-core. 8 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2018-1335 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Command injection in org.apache.tika:tika-core
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2018-1335 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE sits: patch-first territory.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 0 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.tika:tika-coreReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
From Apache Tika versions 1.7 to 1.17, clients could send carefully crafted headers to tika-server that could be used to inject commands into the command line of the server running tika-server. This vulnerability only affects those running tika-server on a server that is open to untrusted clients. The mitigation is to upgrade to Tika 1.18.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tika:tika-core | ≥ 1.7&&< 1.18 | 1.18 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Apache Tika-server < 1.18 - Command Injection
by Rhino Security Labs · Mar 13, 2019
Apache Tika 1.15 - 1.17 - Header Command Injection (Metasploit)
by Metasploit · Aug 5, 2019
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.tika:tika-core. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update org.apache.tika:tika-core to 1.18 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-1335 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
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.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2018-1335 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2018-1335. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This issue affects the versions of tika which is embedded in the nutch package as shipped with Red Hat Satellite 5. The tika server is not exposed, as such exploitation is difficult, Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having security impact of Low. A future update may address this issue. For additional…
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-1335 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2018-1335 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.