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Commons FileuploadApplication · Apache

CVE-2025-48976

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.6 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
High EPSS 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
Allocation of resources for multipart headers with insufficient limits enabled a DoS vulnerability in Apache Commons FileUpload. This issue affects Apache Commons FileUpload: from 1.0 before 1.6; from 2.0.0-M1 before 2.0.0-M4. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 1.6 or 2.0.0-M4, which fix the issue.

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 confidence

Apache Commons FileUpload does not impose sufficient limits on multipart header allocation, allowing an attacker to trigger excessive memory consumption through specially crafted multipart requests with large headers, resulting in a denial-of-service condition.

MitigationUpgrade Apache Commons FileUpload to version 1.6 or 2.0.0-M4 to resolve the insufficient resource limit vulnerability.

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
Commons FileuploadApplication
Affected:>= 1.0, < 1.6= 2.0.0

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Locate Apache Commons FileUpload library
    Search for commons-fileupload*.jar files in your application lib directories, classpath, or dependency manifests (pom.xml, build.gradle, requirements.txt). Also check for 'org.apache.commons.fileupload' in imported Java packages.
    Affected if The library is present in the application
  2. Determine installed version
    Inspect the commons-fileupload JAR filename, check META-INF/MANIFEST.MF inside the JAR for Specification-Version, or look at the version field in your dependency manager (mvn dependency:tree, gradle dependencies).
    Affected if Version is 1.0 through 1.5.x, or exactly 2.0.0
  3. Confirm multipart file upload is in use
    Review application code for ServletFileUpload, DiskFileItemFactory, or multipart-config elements in web.xml. Check if forms or API endpoints use enctype='multipart/form-data'.
    Affected if Multipart request handling is actively used by the application
  4. Check for custom resource limits on multipart processing
    Inspect code that initializes ServletFileUpload or FileUpload for setSizeMax, setFileSizeMax, or similar limit configurations. Look for custom parsing of multipart streams.
    Affected if No size limits are configured or limits are set very high (unrestricted)
  5. Identify exposure to untrusted multipart requests
    Determine if the application accepts multipart requests from external or unauthenticated sources. Review servlet mappings, REST endpoints, or file upload endpoints accessible without authentication.
    Affected if The application accepts multipart uploads from untrusted or anonymous users

The environment is affected if Apache Commons FileUpload version 1.0-1.5.x or 2.0.0 is present AND multipart request handling is enabled AND the application accepts untrusted uploads without strict size limits configured.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.6 or later
Fixed in 1.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Apache Commons FileUpload to version 1.6 or 2.0.0-M4 to resolve the insufficient resource limit vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.6 (for 1.x users) or 2.0.0-M4 (for 2.x users)

  1. 1. Identify the current version of Apache Commons FileUpload in your project by checking your dependency management (Maven pom.xml, Gradle build.gradle, or similar)
  2. 2. If using version 1.x (e.g., 1.3, 1.4, 1.5): Update the dependency version to 1.6
  3. 3. If using version 2.x (e.g., 2.0.0-M1, 2.0.0-M2, 2.0.0-M3): Update the dependency version to 2.0.0-M4
  4. 4. Rebuild and test your application to ensure file upload functionality works correctly
  5. 5. Verify the fix is applied by checking that the commons-fileupload library version loaded at runtime is 1.6 or 2.0.0-M4
Caveat Minor releases within 1.x typically have backward compatibility; 2.0.0-M4 is a milestone release so review migration notes for API changes

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Commons Fileupload Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

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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-2025-48976 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data