CVE-2024-55887 — ucum
HIGHCVE-2024-55887 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.6) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in org.fhir:ucum. A fix is available for org.fhir:ucum — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Ucum-java has an XXE vulnerability in XML parsing
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-55887.
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.fhir:ucumReal-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
Ucum-java is a FHIR Java library providing UCUM Services. In versions prior to 1.0.9, XML parsing performed by the UcumEssenceService is vulnerable to XML external entity injections. A processed XML file with a malicious DTD tag could produce XML containing data from the host system. This impacts use cases where ucum is being used to within a host where external clients can submit XML. Release 1.0.9 of Ucum-java fixes this vulnerability. As a workaround, ensure that the source xml for instantiating UcumEssenceService is trusted.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.fhir:ucum | all versions | 1.0.9org.fhir:ucum:1.0.9 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.fhir:ucum, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.fhir:ucum to 1.0.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-55887 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.
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.
The FHIR component is not supported in Red Hat Fuse 7 and Red Hat Integration Camel K, so these products are not affected by this vulnerability. This vulnerability is of important severity because it enables XML External Entity (XXE) injection, a important issue that can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data…
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2024-55887 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-55887 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.