CVE-2025-10990
HIGHCVE-2025-10990 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-1333 vulnerability in rexml. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2025-10990 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Rexml: rexml: denial of service via inefficient regex parsing
Blast Radius
rexmlReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A flaw was found in REXML. A remote attacker could exploit inefficient regular expression (regex) parsing when processing hex numeric character references (&#x...;) in XML documents. This could lead to a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS), impacting the availability of the affected component. This issue is the result of an incomplete fix for CVE-2024-49761.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | rexml | all versions | 3.3.9 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for rexml. 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 rexml to 3.3.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-10990 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-2025-10990 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-2025-10990. 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-2025-10990 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2025-10990 across RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.