XML parser created without XXE hardening

An XML parser or parser factory is created and no setting hardening it against XML External Entity (XXE) processing is applied to it. Left at its defaults, a JAXP, StAX or TrAX parser resolves the DTDs and external entities declared in the documents it parses.

java.xml_entity_injection reports XXE when a data path can be followed from an external input to the parser. That is the right answer for application code, but it needs the input to be visible: a parser built in a codec, a utility class or a shared library, where the caller lives in another project, has no source to follow and is reported by nothing.

The parser setup is unsafe on its own terms, independent of who calls it. This detector reports the setup, so a library that hands an unhardened parser to its callers is visible without having to guess at reachability. Its severity is low because the finding says nothing about whether attacker-controlled XML actually reaches the parser — when that can be shown, java.xml_entity_injection reports it as critical.

A parser is considered hardened when setFeature, setAttribute or setProperty applies any XXE-relevant setting to it — disallow-doctype-decl, external-general-entities, external-parameter-entities, load-external-dtd, secure processing, accessExternalDTD, accessExternalSchema, accessExternalStylesheet, supportDTD or isSupportingExternalEntities — written either as the literal feature URI or as the corresponding XMLConstants / XMLInputFactory constant.

The value passed is deliberately not inspected. The question this detector answers is whether the parser was hardened at all; a setting deliberately pushed to the unsafe value is a different defect.

setExpandEntityReferences, setValidating, setNamespaceAware and setXIncludeAware do not count. expandEntityReferences is true by default in JAXP, so writing it explicitly changes nothing, and setting it to false does not stop the parser from resolving external entities — it only stops them being expanded into the tree. Accepting it as hardening would hide the defect it looks like it fixes.

Reported — no hardening anywhere on the factory:

Not reported — the factory carries a hardening setting:

Disable DTD processing entirely where the documents parsed do not need it:

When a DTD must be accepted, turn off external entity resolution instead:

For TransformerFactory and SchemaFactory, deny external access:

For StAX:

A parser handed to another method, or returned from the method that creates it, is not reported: the hardening may be applied out of sight of this detector, and reporting it would be a guess.