Critical severity · published Dec 12, 2024
CVE-2024-55875
http4k has a potential XXE (XML External Entity Injection) vulnerability
9.8
CVSS
1.9%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
http4k is a functional toolkit for Kotlin HTTP applications. Prior to version 6.50.0.0, there is a potential XXE (XML External Entity Injection) vulnerability when http4k handling malicious XML contents within requests, which might allow attackers to read local sensitive information on server, trigger Server-side Request Forgery and even execute code under some circumstances. The original fix shipped in v5.41.0.0 / v4.50.0.0 closed the documented external-entity attack class (SSRF, local-file disclosure, code execution) by setting `ACCESS_EXTERNAL_DTD=""`, `ACCESS_EXTERNAL_SCHEMA=""`, and `isExpandEntityReferences=false` on the default `DocumentBuilderFactory`. A residual gap remained: the parser still accepted documents containing `<!DOCTYPE>` declarations even though external entity resolution was blocked. This left open billion-laughs-style internal entity expansion DoS attacks against any application using `Body.xml()` or `Document.asXmlDocument()` on untrusted XML. v6.50.0.0 closes this residual by adding `disallow-doctype-decl=true` and `FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING=true` to `defaultXmlParsingConfig`. Any document containing a `<!DOCTYPE>` is now rejected at parse time.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)1.9% · higher than 80% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
HT
http4k · http4k
< 6.50.0.0 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-55875
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-55875
github.com
https://github.com/http4k/http4k/blob/25696dff2d90206cc1da42f42a1a8dbcdbcdf18c/core/format/xml/src/main/kotlin/org/http4k/format/Xml.kt#L42-L46
github.com
https://github.com/http4k/http4k/commit/35297adc6d6aca4951d50d8cdf17ff87a8b19fbc
github.com
https://github.com/http4k/http4k/security/advisories/GHSA-7mj5-hjjj-8rgw
More from http4k
8.1
CVE-2026-54148
http4k: `DigestAuthProvider.verify` did not bind to request URI
7.5
CVE-2026-53659
http4k: Unbounded gzip decompression in `ServerFilters.GZip` / `RequestFilters.GunZip` allowed memory-exhaustion DoS
6.5
CVE-2026-100725
http4k before 6.48.0.0 Cookie Scoping Bypass via BasicCookieStorage
6.5
CVE-2026-54147
http4k: `DigestAuthProvider.verify` ignored configured algorithm and did not bind to request URI
5.9
CVE-2026-100834
http4k before 6.48.0.0 Digest Authentication Replay Protection Bypass
