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XML External Entity (XXE)Weakness · CWE-611

CVE-2026-40998

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-06-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
91/100
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
Jaxp13XPathTemplate evaluated XPath expressions for StreamSource and SAXSource inputs using a code path that parsed attacker-controlled XML with the JDK's default DocumentBuilderFactory behavior instead of Spring's hardened parser configuration. Applications that evaluate XPath against untrusted XML payloads could therefore be exposed to XML External Entity (XXE) style attacks. Affected versions: Spring Web Services 5.0.0 through 5.0.1; 4.1.0 through 4.1.3; 4.0.0 through 4.0.18; 3.1.0 through 3.1.8.

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

Jaxp13XPathTemplate in Spring Web Services evaluates XPath expressions for StreamSource and SAXSource inputs using JDK's default DocumentBuilderFactory instead of Spring's hardened parser configuration. This allows XXE attacks when applications process untrusted XML payloads, as external entities and DTD processing are not disabled.

MitigationConfigure DocumentBuilderFactory with XXE protections (disabling external entities and DTD processing) or upgrade to a patched version of Spring Web Services that applies hardened parser settings consistently across all source types.

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
Low
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Identify Spring Web Services usage
    Search your codebase for spring-ws-core or org.springframework.ws dependencies in your build files (pom.xml, build.gradle) and project libraries
    Affected if Spring Web Services library is present in the application
  2. Find Jaxp13XPathTemplate usage
    Search your codebase for imports or references to Jaxp13XPathTemplate class (org.springframework.ws.xml.xpath.Jaxp13XPathTemplate)
    Affected if Jaxp13XPathTemplate is instantiated or used in the application code
  3. Inspect XPath evaluation source types
    Review code where the XPath template evaluates expressions. Look for usage of StreamSource, SAXSource, or DOMSource when calling the XPath evaluation methods
    Affected if StreamSource or SAXSource is passed to the XPath evaluation (DOMSource is not affected)
  4. Determine XML input trust level
    Trace the source of XML data being processed through Jaxp13XPathTemplate. Check if it originates from user input, HTTP requests, uploaded files, or external systems
    Affected if The XML processed comes from untrusted or potentially malicious sources such as user uploads, API requests, or external feeds
  5. Verify parser configuration
    Inspect your XML parser factory configuration (DocumentBuilderFactory, SAXParserFactory) settings. Check if external entity processing and DTD processing are explicitly disabled
    Affected if The application relies on JDK default parser settings without explicit XXE protections applied

Your application is affected if it uses Jaxp13XPathTemplate to evaluate XPath expressions from StreamSource or SAXSource against untrusted XML without XXE-safe parser configuration.

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

Configure DocumentBuilderFactory with XXE protections (disabling external entities and DTD processing) or upgrade to a patched version of Spring Web Services that applies hardened parser settings consistently across all source types.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Spring Web Services 5.0.2+ (or 4.1.4+/4.0.19+/3.1.9+ depending on your major version)

  1. 1. Identify all dependencies on Spring Web Services (spring-ws-core) in your project
  2. 2. Locate the current version in your build configuration (pom.xml, build.gradle, etc.)
  3. 3. For Spring Web Services 5.0.x: upgrade to version 5.0.2 or later
  4. 4. For Spring Web Services 4.1.x: upgrade to version 4.1.4 or later
  5. 5. For Spring Web Services 4.0.x: upgrade to version 4.0.19 or later
  6. 6. For Spring Web Services 3.1.x: upgrade to version 3.1.9 or later
  7. 7. Rebuild and test your application to ensure XPath functionality still works correctly
  8. 8. Re-test any functionality that processes XML with XPath expressions to verify the fix does not break legitimate operations
Caveat Minor - the fix applies hardened XML parser settings; verify that any legitimate XML processing with external entities was intentional and adjust if needed

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2026-40998 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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