GHSA-h94w-8qhg-3xmc — am-distribution-parent
CRITICALGHSA-h94w-8qhg-3xmc is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.1) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in org.wso2.am:am-distribution-parent. A fix is available for org.wso2.am:am-distribution-parent — see the affected versions and patch details below.
WSO2 API Manager XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability
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.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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-h94w-8qhg-3xmc.
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-h94w-8qhg-3xmc 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 377,166 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.wso2.am:am-distribution-parentReal-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
An XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability exists in the gateway component of WSO2 API Manager due to insufficient validation of XML input in crafted URL paths. User-supplied XML is parsed without appropriate restrictions, enabling external entity resolution.
This vulnerability can be exploited by an unauthenticated remote attacker to read files from the server’s filesystem or perform denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
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On systems running JDK 7 or early JDK 8, full file contents may be exposed.
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On later versions of JDK 8 and newer, only the first line of a file may be read, due to improvements in XML parser behavior.
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DoS attacks such as "Billion Laughs" payloads can cause service disruption.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.wso2.am:am-distribution-parent | all versions | 2.1.0org.wso2.am:am-distribution-parent:2.1.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.wso2.am:am-distribution-parent, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.wso2.am:am-distribution-parent to 2.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-h94w-8qhg-3xmc 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-h94w-8qhg-3xmc can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-h94w-8qhg-3xmc. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-h94w-8qhg-3xmc in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-h94w-8qhg-3xmc across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.