CVE-2025-2905: Critical XXE Vulnerability in WSO2 API Manager Gateway

Overview

A severe cybersecurity flaw, identified as CVE-2025-2905, has been discovered in the gateway component of the WSO2 API Manager. This vulnerability, an XML External Entity (XXE) issue, has the potential to compromise system security and leak sensitive data. Given the widespread use of WSO2 API Manager across various industries, this vulnerability could put countless businesses and their customers at risk if not addressed swiftly.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-2905
Severity: Critical (CVSS score 9.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

WSO2 API Manager | All versions running JDK 7 or early JDK 8
WSO2 API Manager | All versions running later versions of JDK 8 and newer

How the Exploit Works

The CVE-2025-2905 vulnerability exists due to insufficient validation of XML input in crafted URL paths in the API Manager’s gateway component. This omission allows user-supplied XML to be parsed without the necessary restrictions, enabling external entity resolution. Unauthenticated remote attackers can exploit this flaw to read files from the server’s filesystem or launch denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
On systems running JDK 7 or early JDK 8, attackers can expose the full contents of a file. On later versions of JDK 8 and newer, only the first line of a file can be read due to improvements in XML parser behavior. Furthermore, DoS attacks, such as “Billion Laughs” payloads, can be employed to disrupt service.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited using a malicious XML payload:

POST /api/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/xml
<!DOCTYPE exploit [
<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd">
]>
<request>
<param>&xxe;</param>
</request>

In this example, the attacker tries to retrieve the content of the ‘/etc/passwd’ file, which contains user account details on a Unix-like system, by using a malicious XML payload.

Recommended Mitigation

To mitigate this vulnerability, it is recommended to apply the vendor-supplied patch as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary protection against potential attacks exploiting this vulnerability.