What is CVE-2019-16549?

CVE-2019-16549 is a high-severity vulnerability in Jenkins Maven, classified under Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (XXE). CVSS score: 8.1/10. Published 2019-12-17.

How severe is CVE-2019-16549?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.1 out of 10.

XXE in Jenkins Maven

CVE-2019-16549

Jenkins Maven Release Plugin 0.16.1 and earlier does not configure the XML parser to prevent XML external entity (XXE) attacks, allowing man-in-the-middle attackers to have Jenkins parse crafted XML documents.

Vulnerability class: XXE (XML External Entity)

Published 2019-12-17 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.010 (60.4th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 60th percentile — 60.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.010 · newest: 0.010 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Jenkins Maven
Jenkins Project Maven Release Plugin — versions unspecified

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-611 — Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (XXE)

References

jenkins.io/security/advisory/2019-12-17/ (Vendor Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/12/17/1 (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-16549?: CVE-2019-16549 is a high-severity vulnerability in Jenkins Maven, classified under Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (XXE). CVSS score: 8.1/10. Published 2019-12-17.
How severe is CVE-2019-16549?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.1 out of 10.