GHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf — xalan
HIGHGHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-681 vulnerability in xalan:xalan. 3 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for xalan:xalan — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Apache Xalan Java XSLT library integer truncation issue when processing malicious XSLT stylesheets
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 GHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf.
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
GHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE sits: patch-first territory.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
xalan:xalanReal-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 Apache Xalan Java XSLT library is vulnerable to an integer truncation issue when processing malicious XSLT stylesheets. This can be used to corrupt Java class files generated by the internal XSLTC compiler and execute arbitrary Java bytecode. Users are recommended to update to version 2.7.3 or later. Note: Java runtimes (such as OpenJDK) include repackaged copies of Xalan.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | xalan:xalan | all versions | 2.7.3xalan:xalan:2.7.3 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for xalan:xalan, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update xalan:xalan to 2.7.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf 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 GHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel 3.20.6 for Spring Boot | xalan | RHSA-2024:3708 |
| Red Hat Build of OpenJDK 17.0.4 | Linux | RHSA-2022:5758 |
| Red Hat Build of OpenJDK 8u342 | Linux | RHSA-2022:5754 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | java-11-openjdk-1:11.0.16.0.8-1.el7_9 | RHSA-2022:5687 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | java-1.8.0-openjdk-1:1.8.0.342.b07-1.el7_9 | RHSA-2022:5698 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | java-11-openjdk-1:11.0.16.0.8-1.el8_6 | RHSA-2022:5683 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | java-1.8.0-openjdk-1:1.8.0.342.b07-2.el8_6 | RHSA-2022:5696 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | java-17-openjdk-1:17.0.4.0.8-2.el8_6 | RHSA-2022:5726 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-9339-86wc-4qgf across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.