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Html Form EntryApplication · Openmrs

CVE-2018-16521

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-09-05
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
An XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability exists in HTML Form Entry 3.7.0, as distributed in OpenMRS Reference Application 2.8.0.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-611

An XML parser processes external entity references inside untrusted documents, letting an attacker read local files, reach internal systems, or exhaust resources. It's a common trap in anything that accepts XML. The fix is to disable external entities and DTD processing in the parser.

General guidance for the xml external entity (xxe) class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Html Form EntryApplication
Affected:= 3.7.0
Reference ApplicationApplication
Affected:= 2.8.0

CVSS 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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

HTML Form Entry version higher than 3.7.0 (e.g., 3.7.1 or later)

  1. 1. Navigate to the OpenMRS Administration > Manage Modules page
  2. 2. Locate the HTML Form Entry module in the list of installed modules
  3. 3. Note the current version (should be 3.7.0)
  4. 4. Check for available module updates or download the updated HTML Form Entry module from the OpenMRS module repository
  5. 5. Stop the OpenMRS application server
  6. 6. Backup the current module file and the OpenMRS database
  7. 7. Install the updated HTML Form Entry module (version higher than 3.7.0)
  8. 8. Start the OpenMRS application server
Caveat Module upgrade may require testing of existing forms; ensure custom form configurations are validated after upgrade

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-16521 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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