GHSA-j8wc-gxx9-82hx — xmlsec
HIGHGHSA-j8wc-gxx9-82hx is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in org.apache.santuario:xmlsec. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.apache.santuario:xmlsec — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor in Apache Santuario
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-j8wc-gxx9-82hx 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 377,333 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.apache.santuario:xmlsec☕org.apache.santuario:xmlsecReal-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
All versions of Apache Santuario - XML Security for Java prior to 2.2.3 and 2.1.7 are vulnerable to an issue where the "secureValidation" property is not passed correctly when creating a KeyInfo from a KeyInfoReference element. This allows an attacker to abuse an XPath Transform to extract any local .xml files in a RetrievalMethod element.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.santuario:xmlsec | ≥ 2.2.0&&< 2.2.3 | 2.2.3org.apache.santuario:xmlsec:2.2.3 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.santuario:xmlsec | all versions | 2.1.7org.apache.santuario:xmlsec:2.1.7 |
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 org.apache.santuario:xmlsec, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.santuario:xmlsec to 2.2.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-j8wc-gxx9-82hx 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-j8wc-gxx9-82hx can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-j8wc-gxx9-82hx. 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.
Since OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) 4.7, the logging-elasticsearch6-container is shipping as a part of the OpenShift Logging product (openshift-logging/elasticsearch6-rhel8). The elasticsearch component delivered in OCP 4.6 is marked as `Out of support scope` because these versions are already under Maintenance…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| EAP 7.3.10 GA | xmlsec | RHSA-2021:5154 |
| Red Hat EAP-XP 2 via EAP 7.3.x base | xmlsec | RHSA-2022:0146 |
| Red Hat Fuse 7.11 | xmlsec | RHSA-2022:5532 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform | org.apache.santuario/xmlsec:2.1.7.redhat-00001 | RHSA-2021:4679 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.1 EUS for RHEL 7 | eap7-activemq-artemis-0:1.5.5.016-1.redhat_00001.1.ep7.el7 | RHSA-2025:4226 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3 for RHEL 6 | eap7-apache-cxf-0:3.3.12-1.redhat_00001.1.el6eap | RHSA-2021:5149 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3 for RHEL 7 | eap7-apache-cxf-0:3.3.12-1.redhat_00001.1.el7eap | RHSA-2021:5150 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3 for RHEL 8 | eap7-apache-cxf-0:3.3.12-1.redhat_00001.1.el8eap | RHSA-2021:5151 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-j8wc-gxx9-82hx in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-j8wc-gxx9-82hx across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.