GHSA-hwj3-m3p6-hj38 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in org.dom4j:dom4j. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-hwj3-m3p6-hj38 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
dom4j allows External Entities by default which might enable XXE attacks
Real-World Exposure
org.dom4j:dom4j☕org.dom4j:dom4j☕dom4j:dom4jReal-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
dom4j before 2.1.3 allows external DTDs and External Entities by default, which might enable XXE attacks. However, there is popular external documentation from OWASP showing how to enable the safe, non-default behavior in any application that uses dom4j.
Note: This advisory applies to dom4j:dom4j version 1.x legacy artifacts. To resolve this a change to the latest version of org.dom4j:dom4j is recommended.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.dom4j:dom4j | all versions | 2.0.3 |
| ☕Maven | org.dom4j:dom4j | ≥ 2.1.0&&< 2.1.3 | 2.1.3 |
| ☕Maven | dom4j:dom4j | all versions | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.dom4j:dom4j. 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.dom4j:dom4j to 2.0.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hwj3-m3p6-hj38 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-hwj3-m3p6-hj38 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-hwj3-m3p6-hj38. 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.
OpenShift Container Platform ships a vulnerable version of dom4j library. However it's used to parse configuration files, which are local disk resources. We've rated this issue with a moderate impact for OpenShift Container Platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-hwj3-m3p6-hj38 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-hwj3-m3p6-hj38 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.