XML External Entity (XXE)Weakness · CWE-611

CVE-2024-46455

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
unstructured v.0.14.2 and before is vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) via the XMLParser.

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 confidence

The unstructured library versions 0.14.2 and below contain an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in the XMLParser component. This allows attackers to craft malicious XML input that can cause the parser to read local files, perform server-side request forgery (SSRF), or denial of service attacks.

MitigationUpdate unstructured to a version newer than v.0.14.2, or disable external entity resolution in the XMLParser configuration if upgrading is not immediately feasible.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed unstructured library version
    Run `pip show unstructured` or `pip list | grep unstructured` to see the installed version number
    Affected if Version is 0.14.2 or lower
  2. Identify XMLParser usage in code
    Search your codebase for imports and usage of XMLParser, such as `from unstructured.partition.xml import XMLParser` or instances where XMLParser is instantiated
    Affected if XMLParser class is imported or used in your application code
  3. Check for XML file processing
    Review application logs or code that processes .xml files using the unstructured library, looking for partition calls on XML documents
    Affected if Your application parses XML files with unstructured
  4. Inspect XMLParser configuration
    Look for any configuration files or code that instantiates XMLParser with custom settings, check for lxml or defusedxml backends
    Affected if XMLParser is configured with default settings (external entity resolution enabled by default)
  5. Verify external entity resolution is disabled
    If using lxml.etree, verify parser configuration does not set resolve_entities=True; check for defusedxml or lxml's XMLParser with resolve_entities=False
    Affected if No explicit disable of external entity resolution is found in parser configuration

Your environment is affected if the unstructured library version is 0.14.2 or lower AND your application uses XMLParser to process untrusted XML files with default settings.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update unstructured to a version newer than v.0.14.2, or disable external entity resolution in the XMLParser configuration if upgrading is not immediately feasible.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,360
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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-2024-46455 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

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