CVE-2026-40998 — Vulnerability in...

HIGH

Spring Web Services: Jaxp13 XPath XXE via StreamSource and SAXSource

Published June 11, 2026Updated August 21, 2026Source: osv

Summary

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.

Advisory Timeline

First published June 11, 2026 (123 days ago).
Last revised August 21, 2026 — 71 days after initial publication.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

Maven

Update org.springframework.ws:spring-xml to 5.0.2 or later

<!-- Update pom.xml dependency version to 5.0.2 for org.springframework.ws:spring-xml -->

Maven

Update org.springframework.ws:spring-xml to 4.1.4 or later

<!-- Update pom.xml dependency version to 4.1.4 for org.springframework.ws:spring-xml -->

After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.

Affected Packages (4)

Affects 1 ecosystem: maven (1).

Package	Ecosystem	Affected	Fixed In
org.springframework.ws:spring-xml	maven	4.0.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.10, 4.0.11 (+14 more)	Range-based data available
org.springframework.ws:spring-xml	maven	3.1.0, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3 (+5 more)	Range-based data available
org.springframework.ws:spring-xml	maven	5.0.0, 5.0.1	5.0.2
org.springframework.ws:spring-xml	maven	4.1.0, 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3	4.1.4

Vulnerability Classification

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) identifiers for this vulnerability type.

CWE-611
XML External Entity (XXE)MITRE

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 8.2 score means for each attack dimension.

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

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

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-40998?: Spring Web Services: Jaxp13 XPath XXE via StreamSource and SAXSource This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of HIGH (CVSS score: 8.2/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2026-40998?: CVE-2026-40998 affects org.springframework.ws:spring-xml. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2026-40998 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score

8.2

High exploitability or significant impact. Prioritize remediation within days.

Also Known As

GHSA-2mpf-m756-hxjm

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