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CVE-2016-2175

28
FAUCET Score

CVE-2016-2175 describes an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in Apache PDFBox versions prior to 1.8.12 and 2.0.1, affecting both Apache and Debian distributions. This flaw stems from improper initialization of XML parsers, allowing attackers to craft malicious PDFs to trigger XXE attacks. With a CVSS v3 score of 7.8 (High), successful exploitation could lead to high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts, though it requires local access and low privileges. Currently, there is no evidence of active exploitation, public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), or significant community discussion or media coverage surrounding this vulnerability.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
1.8.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:apache:pdfbox:1.8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.8.1CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:apache:pdfbox:1.8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.8.2CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:apache:pdfbox:1.8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.8.3CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:apache:pdfbox:1.8.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.8.4CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:apache:pdfbox:1.8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

7.8HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
4.76%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
90.9%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-24
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0476 is in the 98th percentile among its peer group of 16,985 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.2 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (12)

mavenpatch availablevia ghsa
Product: org.apache.pdfbox:pdfboxFixed in: 2.0.1
mavenpatch availablevia ghsa
Product: org.apache.pdfbox:pdfboxFixed in: 1.8.12
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.4
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6.4
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6.3Fixed in: pdfbox
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6.3
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6.3
View patch
redhatno patchvia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat BPM Suite 6Fixed in: pdfbox
redhatno patchvia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6Fixed in: pdfbox
redhatno patchvia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6Fixed in: pdfbox
redhatno patchvia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Satellite 5Fixed in: pdfbox
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat JBoss Portal 6Fixed in: pdfbox

Vendor Advisories (2)

mavenGHSA-4c32-xmgj-2g98high

High severity vulnerability that affects org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox

Oct 17, 2018
redhatCVE-2016-2175Moderate

pdfbox: XML External Entity vulnerability

May 27, 2016

References

mail-archives.us.apache.org / mod_mbox/www-announce/201605.mbox/%3C83a03bcf-f86b-4688-37b5-615c080291d8%40apache.org%3E
packetstormsecurity.com / files/137214/Apache-PDFBox-1.8.11-2.0.0-XML-Injection.html
rhn.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2017-0179.html
rhn.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2017-0248.html
rhn.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2017-0249.html
rhn.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2017-0272.html
lists.apache.org / thread.html/ad5fbc86c1d1821ae1b963e8561ab6d6a5f66b2848e84f5a31477f54%40%3Ccommits.tika.apache.org%3E
svn.apache.org / viewvc
PatchVendor Advisory
svn.apache.org / viewvc
PatchVendor Advisory
debian.org / security/2016/dsa-3606
Third Party Advisory
securityfocus.com / archive/1/538503/100/0/threaded
securityfocus.com / bid/90902