CVE-2019-12400 — xmlsec
MEDIUMCVE-2019-12400 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in org.apache.santuario:xmlsec. A fix is available for org.apache.santuario:xmlsec — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper input validation in Apache Santuario XML Security for Java
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-2019-12400 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.santuario:xmlsecReal-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
In version 2.0.3 Apache Santuario XML Security for Java, a caching mechanism was introduced to speed up creating new XML documents using a static pool of DocumentBuilders. However, if some untrusted code can register a malicious implementation with the thread context class loader first, then this implementation might be cached and re-used by Apache Santuario - XML Security for Java, leading to potential security flaws when validating signed documents, etc. The vulnerability affects Apache Santuario - XML Security for Java 2.0.x releases from 2.0.3 and all 2.1.x releases before 2.1.4.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.santuario:xmlsec | ≥ 2.0.3&&< 2.1.4 | 2.1.4org.apache.santuario:xmlsec:2.1.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.santuario:xmlsec, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.santuario:xmlsec to 2.1.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-12400 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2019-12400 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2019-12400. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Fuse 7.7.0 | camel-xmlsecurity | RHSA-2020:3192 |
| Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.2 | xmlsec | RHSA-2020:0811 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.2 for RHEL 6 | eap7-activemq-artemis-0:2.9.0-2.redhat_00009.1.el6eap | RHSA-2020:0804 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.2 for RHEL 7 | eap7-activemq-artemis-0:2.9.0-2.redhat_00009.1.el7eap | RHSA-2020:0805 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.2 for RHEL 8 | eap7-activemq-artemis-0:2.9.0-2.redhat_00009.1.el8eap | RHSA-2020:0806 |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.3 | xmlsec | RHSA-2020:0951 |
| Text-Only RHOAR | see advisory | RHSA-2020:2067 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-12400 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2019-12400 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.