CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2025-26865

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine

Published: Mar 10, 2025 | Modified: Mar 10, 2025
CVSS 3.x
N/A
Source:
NVD
CVSS 2.x
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine vulnerability in Apache OFBiz.

This issue affects Apache OFBiz: from 18.12.17 before 18.12.18.  

Its a regression between 18.12.17 and 18.12.18. In case you use something like that, which is not recommended! For security, only official releases should be used.

In other words, if you use 18.12.17 you are still safe. The version 18.12.17 is not a affected. But something between 18.12.17 and 18.12.18 is.

In that case, users are recommended to upgrade to version 18.12.18, which fixes the issue.

Weakness

The product uses a template engine to insert or process externally-influenced input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements or syntax that can be interpreted as template expressions or other code directives when processed by the engine.

Extended Description

Many web applications use template engines that allow developers to insert externally-influenced values into free text or messages in order to generate a full web page, document, message, etc. Such engines include Twig, Jinja2, Pug, Java Server Pages, FreeMarker, Velocity, ColdFusion, Smarty, and many others - including PHP itself. Some CMS (Content Management Systems) also use templates. Template engines often have their own custom command or expression language. If an attacker can influence input into a template before it is processed, then the attacker can invoke arbitrary expressions, i.e. perform injection attacks. For example, in some template languages, an attacker could inject the expression “{{7*7}}” and determine if the output returns “49” instead. The syntax varies depending on the language. In some cases, XSS-style attacks can work, which can obscure the root cause if the developer does not closely investigate the root cause of the error. Template engines can be used on the server or client, so both “sides” could be affected by injection. The mechanisms of attack or the affected technologies might be different, but the mistake is fundamentally the same.

Potential Mitigations

References