CVE-2023-6280
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 · uneditedAn XXE (XML External Entity) vulnerability has been detected in 52North WPS affecting versions prior to 4.0.0-beta.11. This vulnerability allows the use of external entities in its WebProcessingService servlet for an attacker to retrieve files by making HTTP requests to the internal network.
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 confidenceAn XXE (XML External Entity) vulnerability in 52North WPS WebProcessingService servlet allows attackers to inject malicious external XML entities, enabling HTTP requests to internal network resources and file retrieval from 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< 4.0.0= 4.0.0CVSS 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
- 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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Confirm 52North WPS is deployedCheck your servlet container (Tomcat, Jetty, etc.) webapps directory for the 52North WPS application deployment. Look for directories or WAR files containing 'wps' or '52north' in the name.Affected if The 52North WPS application is found in the servlet container's webapps directory.
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Identify the installed versionLocate the version information within the deployed 52North WPS application. Check the WAR file's MANIFEST.MF, a version.properties file, or the application's about/version page if available via HTTP.Affected if The installed version is less than 4.0.0 or equals 4.0.0.
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Verify WebProcessingService servlet is accessibleCheck if the WebProcessingService endpoint is exposed. Common paths include /wps/WebProcessingService or /wps/services/WebProcessingService. Attempt an HTTP request to these endpoints to confirm the servlet responds.Affected if The WebProcessingService servlet is accessible and accepts XML requests.
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Confirm XML parser accepts external entitiesReview the servlet container's XML parser configuration (typically in the container's conf directory or via JVM arguments). Check if the XML parser has external entity processing enabled by default.Affected if The XML parser configuration allows external entity processing (this is the default in many configurations).
The environment is affected if 52North WPS version is less than 4.0.0 or equals 4.0.0, the WebProcessingService servlet is accessible, and the XML parser allows 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 · scoped4.0.0
Upgrade to version 4.0.0-beta.11 or later. Alternatively, disable external entity processing in the servlet container XML parser configuration.
4.0.0-beta.11 or later stable release
- 1. Identify the current version of 52North WPS installation
- 2. Download version 4.0.0-beta.11 or a later stable version from the official 52North repository
- 3. Create a complete backup of the current WPS installation including configuration files and data
- 4. Stop the WPS service
- 5. Deploy the upgraded version (4.0.0-beta.11 or later) following the official upgrade documentation
- 6. Restore configuration from the backup
- 7. Start the WPS service
- 8. Verify the XXE vulnerability is patched by testing XML parsing with external entity references
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-6280 — 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-2023-6280 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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