The HTMLSectionSplitter class in langchain-text-splitters version 0.3.8 is vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) attacks due to unsafe XSLT parsing. This vulnerability arises because the class allows the use of arbitrary XSLT stylesheets, which are parsed using lxml.etree.parse() and lxml.etree.XSLT() without any hardening measures. In lxml versions up to 4.9.x, external entities are resolved by default, allowing attackers to read arbitrary local files or perform outbound HTTP(S) fetches. In lxml versions 5.0 and above, while entity expansion is disabled, the XSLT document() function can still read any URI unless XSLTAccessControl is applied. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to gain read-only access to any file the LangChain process can reach, including sensitive files such as SSH keys, environment files, source code, or cloud metadata. No authentication, special privileges, or user interaction are required, and the issue is exploitable in default deployments that enable custom XSLT.
References
Configurations
No configuration.
History
06 Oct 2025, 18:15
Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
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New CVE |
Information
Published : 2025-10-06 18:15
Updated : 2025-10-08 19:38
NVD link : CVE-2025-6985
Mitre link : CVE-2025-6985
CVE.ORG link : CVE-2025-6985
JSON object : View
Products Affected
No product.
CWE
CWE-611
Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference