# CVE-2013-6429: Cross-Site Request Forgery in Spring Framework

> Remote attackers can read arbitrary files and cause denial of service via crafted XML due to external entity resolution in Spring MVC.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Jan 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** CLSA-2026-1781139197, DEBIAN-CVE-2013-6429, GHSA-g6hf-f9cq-q7w7

## What is CVE-2013-6429?

CVE-2013-6429 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Spring Framework, published on 26 Jan 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The SourceHttpMessageConverter in Spring MVC in Spring Framework before 3.2.5 and 4.0.0.M1 through 4.0.0.RC1 does not disable external entity resolution, which allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files, cause a denial of service, and conduct CSRF attacks via crafted XML, aka an XML External Entity (XXE) issue, and a different vulnerability than CVE-2013-4152 and CVE-2013-7315.

Weakness: CWE-611 (Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference), CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-6429?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.springframework:spring-web. It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `org.springframework:spring-web` | Maven | All versions | 3.2.5.RELEASE |
| `org.springframework:spring-web` | Maven | All versions | 3.2.5.RELEASE |

Products: Pivotal Software Spring Framework, Vmware Spring Framework.

## How do I fix CVE-2013-6429?

Upgrade org.springframework:spring-web to 3.2.5.RELEASE or later.

## Is CVE-2013-6429 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-6429 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Vmware Spring Framework

- [CVE-2014-0225](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0225/): Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference in Spring Framework (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-5007](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-5007/): Spring Security and Spring Framework may not recognize certain paths that should be protected (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2016-9878](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9878/): Pivotal Spring Framework Paths provided to the ResourceServlet were not properly sanitized (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2013-6430](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6430/): Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation in Spring Framework (medium 5.4)
- [CVE-2015-0201](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-0201/): Moderate severity vulnerability that affects org.springframework:spring-core (medium 5.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2013-6429 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2013-6429 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Spring Framework, published on 26 Jan 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-6429 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- org.springframework:spring-web (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 3.2.5.RELEASE
- org.springframework:spring-web (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 3.2.5.RELEASE

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6429/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6429/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-6429
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-6429
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2013-6429

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6429/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.