CVE-2024-6961
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 · uneditedRAIL documents are an XML-based format invented by Guardrails AI to enforce formatting checks on LLM outputs. Guardrails users that consume RAIL documents from external sources are vulnerable to XXE, which may cause leakage of internal file data via the SYSTEM entity.
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 confidenceGuardrails AI's RAIL XML format parser is vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) injection when parsing RAIL documents from untrusted external sources. The vulnerability allows attackers to reference internal system files via the SYSTEM entity, leading to potential sensitive data leakage.
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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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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Identify Guardrails AI installationCheck for Guardrails AI package via pip list (pip show guardrails-ai) or in Python code by attempting 'import guardrails'Affected if The guardrails package is installed and imported in the environment
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Confirm RAIL XML parsing is in useSearch project code or logs for RAIL document loading - look for 'rail' or 'RAIL' in file paths, or calls to guardrails.Guard.from_rail() or similar parsing functionsAffected if RAIL XML documents are being loaded from files or external sources
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Check XML parser configuration for external entitiesInspect the XML parser implementation within Guardrails - verify whether the parser has feature 'http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities' or 'http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities' enabled, or check for no XXE protection flags setAffected if External entity processing and DTD parsing are enabled in the XML parser used for RAIL documents
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Verify source of RAIL documentsReview where RAIL documents originate - check if they come from untrusted external sources, user uploads, or third-party APIs rather than trusted internal sourcesAffected if RAIL documents are parsed from untrusted or external sources without prior validation
The environment is affected if Guardrails AI is installed, RAIL XML documents are parsed from untrusted sources, and the XML parser has external entity processing enabled.
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 dataDisable external entity processing and DTD parsing in the XML parser used to consume RAIL documents, and implement strict input validation for all externally-sourced RAIL documents before parsing.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-6961 — 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-2024-6961 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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