CVE-2024-51132
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 XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in HAPI FHIR before v6.4.0 allows attackers to access sensitive information or execute arbitrary code via supplying a crafted request containing malicious XML entities.
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 confidenceThis is an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in HAPI FHIR, a Java-based FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) library. The flaw allows attackers to supply crafted XML requests containing malicious external entity references, potentially enabling unauthorized access to sensitive system files or remote code execution on the server.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify HAPI FHIR library versionCheck your project's dependency management: for Maven, run 'mvn dependency:tree | grep hapi-fhir' or inspect pom.xml; for Gradle, run 'gradle dependencies | grep hapi-fhir'; for deployed applications, check the JAR file manifest (META-INF/MANIFEST.MF) or the hapi-fhir-base JAR's version attributeAffected if The installed version is lower than 6.4.0 (versions before 6.4.0 are affected)
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Confirm XML input processing is enabledReview your application code for FHIR resource parsing that handles XML format (e.g., FhirContext.newXmlParser(), ParserForXml, or any code path that calls parser.parseResource() on XML content)Affected if Your application accepts and parses XML-formatted FHIR resources from external sources
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Verify XML parser security configurationInspect XML parser setup code for whether external entity processing is explicitly disabled. Look for parser.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl", true) or similar secure configuration, or check if FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING is enabled via parser.setFeature(XMLConstants.FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING, true)Affected if External entity processing is allowed or no secure XML parser features are configured (the vulnerability requires untrusted XML with malicious DTD/entities to be parsed)
You are affected if HAPI FHIR version is below 6.4.0 AND your application processes XML input from untrusted sources without secure XML parser configuration.
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 HAPI FHIR to version 6.4.0 or later. Additionally, disable external entity processing and enable secure XML parser configurations (e.g., set FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING) in XML processors handling untrusted input.
HAPI FHIR v6.4.0 or later
- Upgrade HAPI FHIR to version 6.4.0 or later to resolve the XXE vulnerability
- Verify the upgrade in a test environment before deploying to production
- After upgrading, validate that XML parsing configurations disable external entity processing as a defense-in-depth measure
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-51132 — 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-2024-51132 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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