GHSA-qw4h-3xjj-84cc — tiles-core
HIGHGHSA-qw4h-3xjj-84cc is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in org.apache.tiles:tiles-core. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Apache Tiles: Unvalidated input may lead to path traversal and XXE
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-qw4h-3xjj-84cc.
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-qw4h-3xjj-84cc 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 378,567 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.tiles:tiles-core☕org.apache.struts:struts-tiles☕struts:strutsReal-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
** UNSUPPORTED WHEN ASSIGNED **
The value set as the DefaultLocaleResolver.LOCALE_KEY attribute on the session was not validated while resolving XML definition files, leading to possible path traversal and eventually SSRF/XXE when passing user-controlled data to this key. Passing user-controlled data to this key may be relatively common, as it was also used like that to set the language in the 'tiles-test' application shipped with Tiles.
This issue affects Apache Tiles from version 2 onwards.
NOTE: This vulnerability only affects products that are no longer supported by the maintainer.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tiles:tiles-core | ≥ 2.0.0 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.struts:struts-tiles | ≥ 1.3.0 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | struts:struts | ≥ 1.1 | 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.apache.tiles:tiles-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of org.apache.tiles:tiles-core has shipped for GHSA-qw4h-3xjj-84cc yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
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-qw4h-3xjj-84cc can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-qw4h-3xjj-84cc. 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-qw4h-3xjj-84cc in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-qw4h-3xjj-84cc across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.