Overview
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, a significant vulnerability, CVE-2025-30220, has surfaced, affecting users of the open-source GeoServer, GeoTools, and GeoNetwork platforms. As these platforms allow users to share, edit, and manage geospatial data, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to a multitude of organizations that rely on these systems to maintain their critical geospatial data.
This vulnerability is particularly concerning due to its high severity, as indicated by the CVSS score of 9.9, and the potential for system compromise and data leakage. It underscores the need for ongoing vigilance and regular patch updates to ensure the integrity and security of systems and data.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-30220
Severity: High (9.9)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
GeoServer | 2.27.0, 2.26.2, 2.25.6 and prior versions
GeoTools | 33.0, 32.2, 31.6, 28.6.0 and prior versions
GeoNetwork | 4.4.7, 4.2.12 and prior versions
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability arises from the GeoTools Schema class’s use of the Eclipse XSD library to represent schema data structure, which is susceptible to an XML External Entity (XXE) exploit. An XXE exploit allows an attacker to inject malicious XML code, leading to the disclosure of internal files, denial of service, and potential remote code execution.
Specifically, the gt-xsd-core Schemas class does not use the EntityResolver provided by the ParserHandler, and gt-wfs-ng DataStore does not utilize the ENTITY_RESOLVER connection parameter as intended. This lack of proper entity resolution can lead to the processing of external XML entities, exposing the system to potential XXE attacks.
Conceptual Example Code
The following conceptual example demonstrates how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability:
<!DOCTYPE exploit [
<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd">
]>
<request>
<element>&xxe;</element>
</request>In this example, the attacker sends a request containing a malicious XML document. The document defines an external entity `xxe` that references a sensitive file on the server. When the server processes this XML, it inadvertently includes the contents of the referenced file in its response, revealing potentially sensitive information to the attacker.