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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-40998: Spring Web Services · XML External Entity (XXE)

Affects Spring Web ServicesSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.2 High · fixed in 5.0.1.1 : patch Spring Web Services soon.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 07:15 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
8.2High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 28% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 5.0.1.1, 4.1.3.1, 4.0.19 +1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 11 Jun 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 29 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade Spring Web Services to 5.0.1.1, 4.1.3.1, 4.0.19 or 3.1.9.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
SpringSpring Web ServicesAffected
  • >=5.0.0 <5.0.1.1
Fixed in
  • 5.0.1.1
SpringSpring Web ServicesAffected
  • >=4.1.0 <4.1.3.1
Fixed in
  • 4.1.3.1
SpringSpring Web ServicesAffected
  • >=4.0.0 <4.0.19
Fixed in
  • 4.0.19
SpringSpring Web ServicesAffected
  • >=3.1.0 <3.1.9
Fixed in
  • 3.1.9

AI-suggested

If you cannot patch yet, avoid evaluating XPath expressions against untrusted XML inputs or implement custom hardened XML parser configurations to disable external entity resolution.

Description

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.

References

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