# CVE-2019-5442: XML Entity Expansion in Pippo

> An attacker can cause a Denial of Service in Pippo by triggering recursive XML entity expansion, exhausting JVM memory.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Jun 2019
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hwcx-9p4j-7hwj

## What is CVE-2019-5442?

CVE-2019-5442 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Pippo, published on 12 Jun 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

XML Entity Expansion (Billion Laughs Attack) on Pippo 1.12.0 results in Denial of Service.Entities are created recursively and large amounts of heap memory is taken. Eventually, the JVM process will run out of memory. Otherwise, if the OS does not bound the memory on that process, memory will continue to be exhausted and will affect other processes on the system.

Weakness: CWE-776 (Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-5442?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including ro.pippo:pippo-jaxb. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `ro.pippo:pippo-jaxb` | Maven | All versions to 1.12.0 | None |
| `ro.pippo:pippo-jaxb` | Maven | All versions to 1.12.0 | None |

Products: Pippo Pippo.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-5442?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-5442 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-5442 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-5442 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Pippo

- [CVE-2018-20059](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20059/): Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference in pippo-core (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-18628](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18628/): Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Pippo (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-18240](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18240/): Pippo RCE Vulnerability (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-5442 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-5442 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Pippo, published on 12 Jun 2019. 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-2019-5442 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- ro.pippo:pippo-jaxb (Maven): affected all versions up to 1.12.0; no fix listed
- ro.pippo:pippo-jaxb (Maven): affected all versions up to 1.12.0; no fix listed

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-2019-5442/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5442/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-5442
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-5442
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-5442

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5442/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.