Requests XmlApplication · Requests Xml Project
CVE-2020-26708
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 · uneditedrequests-xml v0.2.3 was discovered to contain an XML External Entity Injection (XXE) vulnerability which allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted XML file.
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 · moderate confidenceThe requests-xml library version 0.2.3 processes XML input without disabling external entity resolution, allowing an attacker to inject malicious XXE payloads that can read local files or execute arbitrary code on the server.
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
Requests XmlApplication
= 0.2.3CVSS 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
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Check if requests-xml is installedRun 'pip show requests-xml' or 'pip list | grep requests-xml' to see if the package is present in your environmentAffected if requests-xml version 0.2.3 is installed and your application parses XML input using this library
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Verify the installed versionExamine the version number from the pip output - look specifically for version 0.2.3Affected if The installed version is exactly 0.2.3
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Identify XML parsing usage in your codeSearch your codebase for imports of 'requests_xml' and usage of 'lxml' or 'xml' parsing functions, especially where user-supplied or untrusted XML is parsedAffected if Your application uses requests-xml to parse XML data from external or untrusted sources
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Check for disabled XXE protectionsInspect the XML parsing code to determine if DTDs and external entities are explicitly disabled - look for settings like 'resolve_entities=False' or DTD restrictions in the parser configurationAffected if Your XML parser is configured without disabling external entity resolution and processes untrusted XML input
You are affected if requests-xml version 0.2.3 is installed and your application uses it to parse XML content from untrusted sources without explicitly disabling external entity processing.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade requests-xml to a patched version that disables external entity processing, or configure the XML parser to disable DTDs and external entities before parsing untrusted XML input.
Upgrade to the latest stable release of requests-xml (check PyPI for version 0.6.x or later)
- 1. Identify the current version of requests-xml in your project by reviewing your requirements.txt, setup.py, or pip freeze output
- 2. Upgrade requests-xml to the latest available version that addresses the XXE vulnerability
- 3. Verify the upgrade by running 'pip show requests-xml' to confirm the new version is installed
- 4. Test your application to ensure XML parsing functionality still works correctly after the upgrade
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Requests Xml
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,072.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-26708 — 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-2020-26708 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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