CVE-2024-38374 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-java. A fix is available for org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-java — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference in org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-java
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-38374.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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
org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-javaReal-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
Impact
Before deserializing CycloneDX Bill of Materials in XML format, cyclonedx-core-java leverages XPath expressions to determine the schema version of the BOM. The DocumentBuilderFactory used to evaluate XPath expressions was not configured securely, making the library vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) injection.
XXE injection can be exploited to exfiltrate local file content, or perform Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) to access infrastructure adjacent to the vulnerable application.
PoC
import org.cyclonedx.parsers.XmlParser;
class Poc {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Will throw org.cyclonedx.exception.ParseException: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
new XmlParser().parse("""
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE bom [<!ENTITY % sp SYSTEM "https://localhost:1010/does-not-exist/file.dtd"> %sp;]>
<bom xmlns="http://cyclonedx.org/schema/bom/1.5"/>
""".getBytes());
}
}
Patches
The vulnerability has been fixed in cyclonedx-core-java version 0.9.4.
Workarounds
If feasible, applications can reject XML documents before handing them to cyclonedx-core-java for parsing. This may be an option if incoming CycloneDX BOMs are known to be in JSON format.
References
- Issue was fixed via https://github.com/CycloneDX/cyclonedx-core-java/pull/434
- Issue was introduced via https://github.com/CycloneDX/cyclonedx-core-java/commit/162aa594f347b3f612fe0a45071693c3cd398ce9
- https://owasp.org/www-community/vulnerabilities/XML_External_Entity_(XXE)_Processing
- https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/XML_External_Entity_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet.html#xpathexpression
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-java | ≥ 2.1.0&&< 9.0.4 | 9.0.4org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-java:9.0.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-java, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.cyclonedx:cyclonedx-core-java to 9.0.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-38374 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-38374 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.