Spring FrameworkFramework / library · VMware
CVE-2013-6429
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe SourceHttpMessageConverter in Spring MVC in Spring Framework before 3.2.5 and 4.0.0.M1 through 4.0.0.RC1 does not disable external entity resolution, which allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files, cause a denial of service, and conduct CSRF attacks via crafted XML, aka an XML External Entity (XXE) issue, and a different vulnerability than CVE-2013-4152 and CVE-2013-7315.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe SourceHttpMessageConverter in Spring MVC (versions before 3.2.5 and 4.0.0.M1 through 4.0.0.RC1) does not disable XML external entity (XXE) resolution. This allows remote attackers to send malicious XML payloads that can read arbitrary files from the server, cause denial of service through entity expansion attacks, and conduct CSRF attacks via crafted XML requests.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Spring FrameworkFramework / library
= 4.0.0>= 3.0.0, <= 3.2.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Spring Framework version in useLocate the spring-core or spring-web JAR file in your application's lib or dependency folder, or check your build configuration (pom.xml, build.gradle) for the spring-framework version. Common paths: WEB-INF/lib/, META-INF/maven/, or the project's dependencies.Affected if The installed version is 4.0.0, or between 3.0.0 and 3.2.4 inclusive.
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Verify SourceHttpMessageConverter is configuredSearch your Spring application configuration files (XML config files in WEB-INF/ or src/main/resources/, or Java @Configuration classes) for any bean definition of SourceHttpMessageConverter. Also check for <mvc:annotation-driven/> or message converters configured via WebMvcConfigurerAdapter/WebMvcConfigurer.Affected if SourceHttpMessageConverter is explicitly registered or auto-configured via annotation-driven MVC.
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Confirm XML request handling is enabledInspect your REST controllers or @RequestMapping methods for parameters annotated with @RequestBody that accept XML, or check your web.xml for any XML-related message converters or Content-Type mappings (application/xml, text/xml).Affected if The application exposes endpoints that accept XML input via HTTP POST/PUT requests with Content-Type matching XML.
Your environment is affected if you run Spring Framework 3.0.0-3.2.4 or 4.0.0, have SourceHttpMessageConverter enabled, and accept XML requests through your Spring MVC endpoints.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade to Spring Framework 3.2.5 or later, or 4.0.0.RELEASE or later. Alternatively, configure XML parsers used by the application to disable external entities, DTD processing, and entity expansion.
Fix this in Spring Framework
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-6429 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-6429 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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