How severe is CVE-2025-66516?

CVE-2025-66516 has a CVSS score of 9.8/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2025-66516?

CVE-2025-66516 affects the following packages: org.apache.tika:tika-core (Maven), org.apache.tika:tika-parsers (Maven), org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2025-66516?

Update org.apache.tika:tika-core to 3.2.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-66516 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2025-66516 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.tika:tika-core. 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.

How do I mitigate CVE-2025-66516 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against CVE-2025-66516?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2025-66516 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2025-66516 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for CVE-2025-66516, including . All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2025-66516?

CVE-2025-66516 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 79.8%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2025-66516?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2025-66516, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2025-66516 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2025-66516 was published on December 4, 2025 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕ Maven

CVE-2025-66516

CRITICAL

Apache Tika has XXE vulnerability

Also known asGHSA-f58c-gq56-vjjf

Published

Dec 4, 2025

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

3 pkgs

Patched

3 / 3

Exploits

2 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

79.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile+78.23%

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.

Blast Radius

3 pkgs affected

☕org.apache.tika:tika-core☕org.apache.tika:tika-parsers☕org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module

Real-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

This CVE covers the same vulnerability as in CVE-2025-54988. However, this CVE expands the scope of affected packages in two ways.

First, while the entrypoint for the vulnerability was the tika-parser-pdf-module as reported in CVE-2025-54988, the vulnerability and its fix were in tika-core. Users who upgraded the tika-parser-pdf-module but did not upgrade tika-core to >= 3.2.2 would still be vulnerable.

Second, the original report failed to mention that in the 1.x Tika releases, the PDFParser was in the "org.apache.tika:tika-parsers" module.

Affected Packages

3 total 3 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.apache.tika:tika-core`	≥ 1.13&&< 3.2.2	3.2.2
☕Maven	`org.apache.tika:tika-parsers`	≥ 1.13&&< 2.0.0	2.0.0
☕Maven	`org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module`	≥ 2.0.0&&< 3.2.2	3.2.2

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

chasingimpact/CVE-2025-66516-Writeup-POC

CVE-2025-66516 working exploit, scanner, explanation.

⭐ 10🍴 2Apr 2026

sid6224/CVE-2025-66516-POC

A POC for the CVE-2025-66516 Apache Tika Vulnerability for educational p

⭐ 6🍴 1Jun 2026

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.tika:tika-core. 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 org.apache.tika:tika-core to 3.2.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-66516 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-2025-66516 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-2025-66516. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF. This CVE covers the same vulnerability as in CVE-2025-54988. However, this CVE expands the scope of affected packages in two ways. First, while the entrypoint for the vulnerability was the tika-parser-pdf-module as reported in CVE-2025-54988, the vulnerability and its fix were in tika-core. Users who upgraded the tika-parser-pdf-module but did not upgrad

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2025-66516 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2025-66516 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works