CVE-2026-91197

Received Received - Intake

XML External Entity Injection in Flowable Engine

Publication date: 2026-09-14

Last updated on: 2026-09-14

Assigner: VulnCheck

Description

Flowable flowable-engine through 8.0.0 contains an XML external entity injection vulnerability in ProcessDiagramLayoutFactory.parseXml() that fails to disable external entity resolution when parsing deployed BPMN resources. Attackers with process deployment privileges can embed DOCTYPE declarations with external entities in BPMN files to read arbitrary local files or trigger requests to internal network endpoints when diagram layout is computed.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-14

Last Modified

2026-09-14

Generated

2026-09-15

AI Q&A

2026-09-15

EPSS Evaluated

N/A

NVD

CVE-2026-91197

EUVD

EUVD-2026-78206

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
flowable	flowable-engine	to 8.0.0 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-611	The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability is an XML external entity (XXE) injection flaw in Flowable's flowable-engine up to version 8.0.0. It occurs in the ProcessDiagramLayoutFactory.parseXml() method, which fails to disable external entity resolution when parsing BPMN process files. Attackers with deployment privileges can exploit this by embedding malicious DOCTYPE declarations in BPMN files to read local files or make requests to internal network endpoints during diagram layout computation.

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking for unauthorized BPMN files with DOCTYPE declarations or external entities. Inspect deployed BPMN files in Flowable's repository for suspicious XML patterns. Monitor network traffic for unexpected requests to internal endpoints triggered by diagram layout computations.

Impact Analysis

If you use Flowable flowable-engine versions up to 8.0.0, attackers with process deployment access could steal sensitive files from your server or probe internal systems. This could lead to data breaches, unauthorized access to configuration files, or lateral movement within your network if internal services are exposed.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could violate compliance requirements under GDPR (data protection) and HIPAA (health information security) by enabling unauthorized access to sensitive data. Organizations may face fines or penalties if they fail to protect personal or health information due to this flaw.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Flowable-engine to a version that disables external entity resolution during BPMN parsing. Restrict process deployment privileges to trusted users only. Review and remove any existing BPMN files containing DOCTYPE declarations or external entities.

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