Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2025-54988?

Affected: Tika (Apache); elasticsearch-8.17 (chainguard); elasticsearch-8 (chainguard), among others. The full list is in the CVE brief.

Is CVE-2025-54988 being exploited in the wild?

It is exploited in the wild, listed in Industry KEV feed since Oct 28, 2026.

Is CVE-2025-54988 in the CISA KEV catalog?

No, it is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Is there a public exploit for CVE-2025-54988?

A public exploit is reported by tracking sources, but no code link is listed yet.

Is there a fix for CVE-2025-54988?

Fixed versions are available, including Tika 3.2.2, Tika 1.22-1ubuntu0.1~esm2, Tika 1.22-2+deb11u1.

How urgently should CVE-2025-54988 be patched?

Brandefense priority: patch immediately, because it is listed as exploited in the wild.

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On CISA KEVCritical

CVE-2025-54988Tika XXE

Apache Tika XXE Vulnerability via Crafted XFA File Inside a PDF

Published Aug 20, 2025 · Updated Oct 28, 2026 · Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2025-54988, DLA-4350-1, GHSA-p72g-pv48-7w9x, ROOT-APP-MAVEN-CVE-2025-54988, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-54988, USN-8324-1

Key Facts

Patch immediately

CVE-2025-54988 is a critical-severity vulnerability (CVSS 9.3 v4) affecting Tika (Apache), elasticsearch-8.17 (chainguard), elasticsearch-8 (chainguard) and 12 more products.
It is exploited in the wild, listed in Industry KEV feed since Oct 28, 2026. A public exploit is reported by tracking sources, but no code link is listed yet.
EPSS estimates a 48% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
Fixed versions are available, including Tika 3.2.2, Tika 1.22-1ubuntu0.1~esm2, Tika 1.22-2+deb11u1.
Brandefense priority: patch immediately, because it is listed as exploited in the wild.

Scores

CVSS v4

9.3

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

EPSS (30-day exploit likelihood)

48%

Higher than 98.8% of all scored CVEs

Exploit maturity

Exploited (KEV)

ATLAS score

61/100

Publication score, see How it works

Exploitation Verdict

KEV listed

Oct 28, 2026

434 days after publication

Federal due date

None

No federal due date

Ransomware use

Not reported

Attributed actors

None named

Exploit & Defence Guidance

Exploit maturity

Exploited (KEV)

Public exploit code

Proof-of-concept links

In-the-wild evidence

Reports of active use

Advisories And Exploit References

advisoryhttps://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-54988
advisoryhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-54988
advisoryhttps://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-54988
advisoryhttps://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-54988
advisoryGHSA advisory
advisoryhttps://github.com/apache/tika/commit/bfee6d5569fe9197c4ea947a96e212825184ca33

Description

Critical XXE in Apache Tika (tika-parser-pdf-module) in Apache Tika 1.13 through and including 3.2.1 on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF. An attacker may be able to read sensitive data or trigger malicious requests to internal resources or third-party servers.

Note that the tika-parser-pdf-module is used as a dependency in several Tika packages including at least: tika-parsers-standard-modules, tika-parsers-standard-package, tika-app, tika-grpc and tika-server-standard.

Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.2, which fixes this issue.

Known-Exploited Catalog Listings

Catalog	Added	Remediation due	Ransomware use
Industry KEV feed	Oct 28, 2026	n/a	Not reported

Affected Products

34 affected entries in total

Product	Affected versions	Fixed in
TikaApache	See advisory	3.2.2
elasticsearch-8.17chainguard	See advisory	8.17.10-r1
elasticsearch-8chainguard	See advisory	8.19.2-r1
elasticsearch-fips-8chainguard	See advisory	8.19.2-r3
elasticsearch-fips-9.0chainguard	See advisory	9.0.8-r0

10 more affected products in the full CVE brief

Patched Releases

Tika

3.2.2, 1.22-1ubuntu0.1~esm2, 1.22-2+deb11u1, 1.22-2+deb11u1build0.22.04.1

apache-tika-3.0

3.0.0-r5

apache-tika-3.1

3.1.0-r5

elasticsearch-8

8.19.2-r1, 8.19.3-r0

elasticsearch-8.17

8.17.10-r1

elasticsearch-9.1

9.1.4-r0

elasticsearch-fips-8

8.19.2-r3

elasticsearch-fips-9.0

9.0.8-r0

elasticsearch-fips-9.1

9.1.2-r12

io.root.org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module

2.9.2-root.io.3, 2.9.2-root.io.4, 2.9.2-root.io.5, 2.9.2-root.io.6, 2.9.3-root.io.1, 2.9.3-root.io.2

libtika-java

1.22-1ubuntu0.1~esm2, 1.22-2+deb11u1build0.22.04.1

opensearch-2

2.19.4-r0

opensearch-3

3.3.0-r0, 3.3.2-r0

org.apache.tika:tika-parser-pdf-module

3.2.2

org.apache.tika:tika-parsers

2.0.0-ALPHA

Timeline

Publicly disclosed
Aug 20, 2025
Added to Industry KEV feed
Oct 28, 2026
Last updated
Oct 28, 2026

Weakness Type

CWE-611 Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

References

advisorycve.org · CVERecord
advisorynvd.nist.gov · CVE-2025-54988
advisorysecurity-tracker.debian.org · CVE-2025-54988
advisoryubuntu.com · CVE-2025-54988
advisoryGHSA advisory

15 more references in the full CVE brief

FAQ

Common Questions.

Critical XXE in Apache Tika (tika-parser-pdf-module) in Apache Tika 1.13 through and including 3.2.1 on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF.
Affected: Tika (Apache); elasticsearch-8.17 (chainguard); elasticsearch-8 (chainguard), among others. The full list is in the CVE brief.
It is exploited in the wild, listed in Industry KEV feed since Oct 28, 2026.
No, it is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
A public exploit is reported by tracking sources, but no code link is listed yet.
Fixed versions are available, including Tika 3.2.2, Tika 1.22-1ubuntu0.1~esm2, Tika 1.22-2+deb11u1.
Brandefense priority: patch immediately, because it is listed as exploited in the wild.

Is CVE-2025-54988 On Your Attack Surface?

Brandefense matches it against the products discovered on your perimeter and opens a finding the day a CVE like this is listed.