CVE-2024-46984
HIGHCVE-2024-46984 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.6) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in de.gematik.refv.commons:commons. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2024-46984 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
XML External Entity Reference (XXE) vulnerability can lead to a Server Side Request Forgery attack in gematik app-referencevalidator
Real-World Exposure
de.gematik.refv.commons:commonsReal-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
The reference validator is a tool to perform advanced validation of FHIR resources for TI applications and interoperability standards. The profile location routine in the referencevalidator commons package is vulnerable to XML External Entities attack due to insecure defaults of the used Woodstox WstxInputFactory. A malicious XML resource can lead to network requests issued by referencevalidator and thus to a Server Side Request Forgery attack. The vulnerability impacts applications which use referencevalidator to process XML resources from untrusted sources. The problem has been patched with the 2.5.1 version of the referencevalidator. Users are strongly recommended to update to this version or a more recent one. A pre-processing or manual analysis of input XML resources on existence of DTD definitions or external entities can mitigate the problem.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | de.gematik.refv.commons:commons | all versions | 2.5.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for de.gematik.refv.commons:commons. 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 de.gematik.refv.commons:commons to 2.5.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-46984 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-2024-46984 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-2024-46984. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-46984 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2024-46984 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.