VulnerabilityPublished 24 Jan 2025Updated 28 Jan 2026

CVE-2024-52807: HL7 fhir-ig-publisher · XML External Entity (XXE)

Affects HL7 fhir-ig-publisherSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.6 High : upgrade to 1.7.4 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.6High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 46% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.7.4

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Jan 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade hl7/fhir-ig-publisher to 1.7.4.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubhl7/fhir-ig-publisher`pkg:github/hl7/fhir-ig-publisher`Other threats	Affected <1.7.4	Fixed in 1.7.4

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

The primary mitigation is to upgrade the HL7 fhir-ig-publisher to version 1.7.4 or later, where the vulnerability has been fully patched. Organizations should audit their deployments to identify any instances running vulnerable versions and prioritize immediate updates. If upgrading is temporarily not feasible, restrict access to the fhir-ig-publisher service by implementing network-level controls such as IP whitelisting or VPN access to limit XML submission to trusted clients only. Employ XML input validation and sanitization to detect and block XML containing DTD declarations or external entity references before processing. Consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block XXE attack patterns targeting the service. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests focusing on XML processing components to identify residual risks. Finally, monitor logs for unusual XML processing errors or unexpected outbound requests that may indicate exploitation attempts.

Description

The HL7 FHIR IG publisher is a tool to take a set of inputs and create a standard FHIR IG. Prior to version 1.7.4, XSLT transforms performed by various components are vulnerable to XML external entity injections. A processed XML file with a malicious DTD tag `( ]>` could produce XML containing data from the host system. This impacts use cases where org.hl7.fhir.publisher is being used to within a host where external clients can submit XML. A previous release provided an incomplete solution revealed by new testing. This issue has been patched as of version 1.7.4. No known workarounds are available.

Impact

For European organizations, particularly those in the healthcare sector using HL7 FHIR standards, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of sensitive patient and organizational data. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized disclosure of protected health information (PHI), internal configuration files, or credentials, potentially violating GDPR and other data protection regulations. Such data breaches could result in regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and loss of trust. Since the vulnerability does not affect integrity or availability, the primary concern is data leakage. The ability to exploit remotely without authentication increases the attack surface, especially for organizations exposing the fhir-ig-publisher to external clients or integrating it into web-facing services. The healthcare sector's critical role in Europe, combined with stringent data privacy laws, amplifies the impact of this vulnerability. Additionally, organizations involved in cross-border healthcare data exchange within the EU may face compounded risks if attackers leverage this flaw to access multi-national data repositories.

Summary

The HL7 FHIR IG publisher is a tool designed to generate standard FHIR Implementation Guides by processing XML inputs through XSLT transformations. Versions prior to 1.7.4 contain a critical vulnerability (CVE-2024-52807) classified under CWE-611, which involves improper restriction of XML External Entity (XXE) references. Specifically, the tool does not adequately sanitize or restrict external entity declarations within XML input files, allowing attackers to embed malicious Document Type Definition (DTD) tags. When processed, these tags can cause the application to access and disclose sensitive files or data from the host system, such as configuration files or credentials, by including external entities in the XML output. This vulnerability is exploitable remotely without requiring authentication or user interaction, provided the attacker can submit XML data to the fhir-ig-publisher service. The vulnerability was partially mitigated in a prior release but was fully resolved in version 1.7.4. The lack of known exploits in the wild suggests limited current exploitation, but the high CVSS score (8.6) reflects the potential severity of data exposure. The vulnerability impacts confidentiality severely, with no direct effect on integrity or availability. The scope is broad for any deployment exposing the fhir-ig-publisher to untrusted XML inputs, especially in healthcare environments where HL7 FHIR standards are widely adopted for interoperability and data exchange.

CWE-611Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A02:2025: Security Misconfiguration (opens in a new tab)
The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.
Implementation · System Configuration
Many XML parsers and validators can be configured to disable external entity expansion.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
XML External Entity Prevention (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.5.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Data Serialization External Entities Blowup (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Jan 2026, 23:50 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-611

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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