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Security Bulletin: IBM i Access Client Solutions is vulnerable to an attacker carrying out an XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF (CVE-2025-66516)

Security Bulletin


Summary

IBM i Access Client Solutions is vulnerable to an attacker carrying out an XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF (CVE-2025-66516). Apache Tika is used by the Run SQL Scripts feature of IBM i Access Client Solutions to determine the content type of binary column data in a table on the IBM i.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:   CVE-2025-66516
DESCRIPTION:   Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF. This CVE covers the same vulnerability as in CVE-2025-54988. However, this CVE expands the scope of affected packages in two ways. First, while the entrypoint for the vulnerability was the tika-parser-pdf-module as reported in CVE-2025-54988, the vulnerability and its fix were in tika-core. Users who upgraded the tika-parser-pdf-module but did not upgrade tika-core to >= 3.2.2 would still be vulnerable. Second, the original report failed to mention that in the 1.x Tika releases, the PDFParser was in the "org.apache.tika:tika-parsers" module.
CWE:   CWE-611: Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   9.8
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Affected Products and Versions

Affected Product(s)Version(s)
IBM i Access Family1.1.9.8 - 1.1.9.10

Remediation/Fixes

The issue can be fixed by upgrading to version 1.1.9.11 or later.   See IBM i Access Client Solutions updates for the latest version available.

Product(s)Version(s)Remediation/Fix/Instructions 
IBM i Access Client Solutions1.1.9.8 - 1.1.9.10

There are three ways to obtain the current version of IBM i Access Client Solutions:

1) IBM i Access Client Solutions is available at Downloads.

2) IBM i Access Client Solutions can be downloaded from the general IBM i software site at Entitled Systems Support (ESS).  

  • Available from ESS starting January 23, 2026. 

3) IBM i Access Client Solutions is available by applying a PTF to IBM i.   

IBM i Release5770-SS1
PTF Number(s)
PTF Download Link(s)
7.6SJ08502https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/fix-information?legacy=SJ08502
7.5SJ08501https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/fix-information?legacy=SJ08501
7.4SJ08500https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/fix-information?legacy=SJ08500
7.3SJ08499https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/fix-information?legacy=SJ08499

 

Workarounds and Mitigations

None

Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins

References

Off

Acknowledgement

Change History

14 Jan 2026: Initial Publication

*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.

Disclaimer

According to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an "industry open standard designed to convey vulnerability severity and help to determine urgency and priority of response." IBM PROVIDES THE CVSS SCORES ""AS IS"" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ANY ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY. In addition to other efforts to address potential vulnerabilities, IBM periodically updates the record of components contained in our product offerings. As part of that effort, if IBM identifies previously unidentified packages in a product/service inventory, we address relevant vulnerabilities regardless of CVE date. Inclusion of an older CVEID does not demonstrate that the referenced product has been used by IBM since that date, nor that IBM was aware of a vulnerability as of that date. We are making clients aware of relevant vulnerabilities as we become aware of them. "Affected Products and Versions" referenced in IBM Security Bulletins are intended to be only products and versions that are supported by IBM and have not passed their end-of-support or warranty date. Thus, failure to reference unsupported or extended-support products and versions in this Security Bulletin does not constitute a determination by IBM that they are unaffected by the vulnerability. Reference to one or more unsupported versions in this Security Bulletin shall not create an obligation for IBM to provide fixes for any unsupported or extended-support products or versions.

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
13 January 2026

Initial Publish date:
14 January 2026

UID

ibm17256985