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
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-2024-55887 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 379,145 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.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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2024-55887 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-55887. 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-2024-55887 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-55887 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.