XercesApplication · Redhat
CVE-2020-14338
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 · uneditedA flaw was found in Wildfly's implementation of Xerces, specifically in the way the XMLSchemaValidator class in the JAXP component of Wildfly enforced the "use-grammar-pool-only" feature. This flaw allows a specially-crafted XML file to manipulate the validation process in certain cases. This issue is the same flaw as CVE-2020-14621, which affected OpenJDK, and uses a similar code. This flaw affects all Xerces JBoss versions before 2.12.0.SP3.
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 confidenceA flaw in Wildfly's Xerces implementation allows specially-crafted XML files to manipulate the validation process due to improper enforcement of the 'use-grammar-pool-only' feature in the XMLSchemaValidator class within the JAXP component. This is the same vulnerability as CVE-2020-14621 affecting OpenJDK.
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
XercesApplication
< 2.12.0= 2.12.0CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
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 if Wildfly or JBoss is deployedCheck for the presence of Wildfly or JBoss application server installations by looking for the jboss-modules.jar or standalone.sh/standalone.bat launch scripts in common paths such as /opt/wildfly, /opt/jboss, or C:\Program Files\WildflyAffected if Wildfly or JBoss is present in the environment
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Locate the Xerces JAR fileSearch for xercesImpl.jar in the Wildfly/JBoss installation directory, typically found under modules/org/apache/xerces/main/ or within the lib directory of the application serverAffected if xercesImpl.jar is found in the Wildfly or JBoss installation
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Determine the installed Xerces versionOpen the xercesImpl.jar file and inspect the MANIFEST.MF file, or use the command: unzip -p xercesImpl.jar META-INF/MANIFEST.MF to extract the version informationAffected if The Xerces version is less than 2.12.0 or exactly 2.12.0
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Check if XML Schema validation is in useReview application configuration files such as web.xml, beans.xml, or any Spring/POJO configuration files that enable XML schema validation, and search code for javax.xml.validation.Validator or similar JAXP XML validation usageAffected if The application performs XML Schema validation using JAXP APIs
The environment is affected if Wildfly or JBoss is present with a Xerces version earlier than 2.12.0 (including exactly 2.12.0) and the application uses XML Schema validation with JAXP.
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 data2.12.0
Upgrade Xerces JBoss to version 2.12.0.SP3 or later to address the vulnerability, and implement additional input validation for XML files as a defense-in-depth measure.
Fix this in Xerces
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,504.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-14338 — 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-2020-14338 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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