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🛡️ CVE-2026-54078 — validation-model

🟠 CVSS 8.0 — High ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-611 NVD
8.0
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

veraPDF Validation XXE via Rich Text

Summary

Description

An XML External Entity Injection (CWE-611) vulnerability in veraPDF allows a remote attacker to read arbitrary files on the server file system and perform Server-Side Request Forgery by submitting a crafted PDF containing a malicious rich-text (/RC or /RV) entry. This affects all current versions of veraPDF-validation.

Details

The vulnerability resides in veraPDF-validation validation-model/src/main/java/org/verapdf/gf/model/tools/DictionaryKeysHelper.java within the getRichTextStringOrStreamEntryStringRepresentation() method. This helper extracts the XHTML rich-text body from a PDF dictionary string or stream and parses it with a DOM parser to return the concatenated text content.

The vulnerability stems from two combined issues:

  • The DocumentBuilderFactory is instantiated with default settings , no disallow-doctype-decl, no disabling of external general/parameter entities, no FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING, and no secure EntityResolver. The default JAXP/Xerces parser will therefore resolve <!DOCTYPE … SYSTEM "…"> and <!ENTITY … SYSTEM "…"> declarations.
  • After parsing, getAllNodeText() recursively concatenates every text node in the document and returns it as the model property value. This means the expanded contents of any external entity are reflected directly back into the validation report.

Impact

This impacts all current releases of the veraPDF validation-model module.

Successful exploitation requires only that the target validate an attacker-supplied PDF. A single markup annotation with a crafted /RC string is sufficient.

Proposed Patch

Harden the DocumentBuilderFactory in validation-model/src/main/java/org/verapdf/gf/model/tools/DictionaryKeysHelper.java per the OWASP XXE Prevention Cheat Sheet to disallow DOCTYPE outright.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity none, availability none.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Attack requirements: None — no deployment-specific condition has to hold.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: None.

Weakness class

CVE-2026-54078 is classified as CWE-611: XML External Entity Reference (XXE). An XML parser resolves external entities, letting a crafted document read local files or reach internal services.

Affected software

CVE-2026-54078 is recorded against 3 packages.

  • org.verapdf:validation-model (from 1.31.1 up to 1.31.71)
  • org.verapdf:validation-model-jakarta (from 1.31.1 up to 1.31.71)
  • unknown

Timeline and source

Published on 29 July 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from NVD.

References

github.com (Web)
github.com (Package)

Other advisories for this package

org.verapdf:validation-model has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-611: XML External Entity Reference (XXE)) in other software:

Details

Severity HIGH
CVSS Score 8.0
CVSS Vector CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CWE CWE-611
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2026-07-29
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-07-29
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
org.verapdf:validation-model 1.31.1 1.31.71
org.verapdf:validation-model-jakarta 1.31.1 1.31.71
unknown — —

Similar Threats

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