CVE-2019-4391
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 · uneditedHCL AppScan Standard is vulnerable to XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data
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 confidenceHCL AppScan Standard is vulnerable to XML External Entity Injection (XXE) when processing XML data. This allows an attacker to inject malicious external entity references into XML input, potentially enabling file system access, SSRF, or denial of service against the application.
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<= 9.0.3.14CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:L
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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Check installed HCL AppScan versionOpen HCL AppScan Standard, then go to Help > About HCL AppScan Standard. Alternatively, locate the installation directory and check the version information in the application properties or README file.Affected if The installed version is 9.0.3.14 or earlier.
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Identify XML processing usageReview the AppScan scan configurations and recent scan jobs to determine if XML files are being scanned or if XML-based input is processed by the application.Affected if The application processes, scans, or parses XML data as part of its normal operations, which is a core function of AppScan.
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Check for external entity processing in XML parserInspect the application logs and configuration files for XML parser settings. Look for evidence of DTD (Document Type Definition) processing enabled in XML-related configuration files within the AppScan installation directory.Affected if External entity processing or DTD processing is enabled in the XML parser configuration.
The environment is affected if HCL AppScan Standard version 9.0.3.14 or earlier is installed and the application processes XML data, as XXE exploitation requires the XML parsing functionality to be active.
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 dataDisable external entity processing and DTD processing in the XML parser configuration, and implement strict input validation for XML data.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-4391 — 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-2019-4391 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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