GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Maven
GHSA-cjx3-73hr-rpw7 http4s-scala-xml has an XML External Entity (XXE) processing issue
CRITICAL
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-61741
- Ecosystem
- Maven
- Packages
- org.http4s:http4s-scala-xml_2.12, org.http4s:http4s-scala-xml_2.13, org.http4s:http4s-scala-xml_3
- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:L
- Weaknesses
- CWE-611
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-24
Affected packages
• Maven org.http4s:http4s-scala-xml_2.12: < 0.24.1 → fixed in 0.24.1
• Maven org.http4s:http4s-scala-xml_2.13: < 0.24.1 → fixed in 0.24.1
• Maven org.http4s:http4s-scala-xml_2.13: >= 1.0.0-M1, < 1.0.0-M39 → fixed in 1.0.0-M39
• Maven org.http4s:http4s-scala-xml_3: < 0.24.1 → fixed in 0.24.1
• Maven org.http4s:http4s-scala-xml_3: >= 1.0.0-M1, < 1.0.0-M39 → fixed in 1.0.0-M39
Description
http4s-scala-xml provides `EntityDecoder[F, scala.xml.Elem]` instances that parse XML message bodies. These decoders used a `javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory` obtained from `SAXParserFactory.newInstance` without any security configuration. With the JDK's default settings, the parser resolves DOCTYPE declarations, external general and parameter entities, and external DTDs.
An application that uses these decoders to parse untrusted XML is vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) attacks. An attacker can craft a request that:
• discloses local files readable by the service process,
• performs server-side request forgery (SSRF) against internal network resources, and/or
• causes denial of service through entity expansion.
Impact
Any service that derives an XML `EntityDecoder` from this library and parses attacker-controlled input is affected.
Patches
The default SAXParserFactory is now hardened:
• secure processing is enabled
• `DOCTYPE` declarations are disallowed
• external general/parameter entities and external DTD loading are disabled
• DTD URIs are not resolved
• XInclude is disabled.
These defaults match `scala.xml.XMLLoader`'s defaults since 2.0.0.
Workarounds
Before upgrading, override `ElemInstances#saxFactory` with a hardened factory.
```scala
val secured = new ElemInstances {
override protected val saxFactory = {
val f = javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory.newInstance
f.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl", true)
// etc.
f
}
}
import secured._
```
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-61741 http4s-scala-xml provides `EntityDecoder[F, scala.xml.Elem]` instances that parse XML message bodies. vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-611 Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference weakness
References
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s-scala-xml/security/advisories/GHSA-cjx3-73hr-rpw7 web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-61741 advisory
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s-scala-xml/commit/326f965a2c45fc2ddbc22545dcf551b0f719f4c8 web
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s-scala-xml package
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s-scala-xml/releases/tag/v0.24.1 web
- https://github.com/http4s/http4s-scala-xml/releases/tag/v1.0.0-M39 web