How severe is GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj?

GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj has a CVSS score of 6.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj?

GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj affects the following packages: xerces:xercesImpl (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj?

Update xerces:xercesImpl to 2.12.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for xerces:xercesImpl. 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 GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj 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 GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj 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 GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj?

GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 4.4%, placing it in the 90th 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. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

When was GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj was published on January 27, 2022 and was last updated on February 16, 2024. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj: Infinite Loop in Apache Xerces Java (Mediu…

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

4.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk90th percentile+4.35%

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

1 pkg affected

☕xerces:xercesImpl

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

There's a vulnerability within the Apache Xerces Java (XercesJ) XML parser when handling specially crafted XML document payloads. This causes, the XercesJ XML parser to wait in an infinite loop, which may sometimes consume system resources for prolonged duration. This vulnerability is present within XercesJ version 2.12.1 and the previous versions.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`xerces:xercesImpl`	all versions	2.12.2

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for xerces:xercesImpl. 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 xerces:xercesImpl to 2.12.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj 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 GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj 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 GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

There's a vulnerability within the Apache Xerces Java (XercesJ) XML parser when handling specially crafted XML document payloads. This causes, the XercesJ XML parser to wait in an infinite loop, which may sometimes consume system resources for prolonged duration. This vulnerability is present within XercesJ version 2.12.1 and the previous versions.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj 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

GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj