GeoServer Security Alerts 2025 — REST API Bypass and XXE Vulnerabilities | GeoSecure Tech Insights

GeoServer Security Alerts 2025 — REST API Bypass and XXE Vulnerabilities

Critical and medium-severity vulnerabilities discovered in GeoServer underscore the need for immediate patching and hardened configuration.

GeoSecureTech Cyber Defense Unit October 2025 5 min read

Overview

GeoServer, a cornerstone of many spatial infrastructures, was affected by multiple vulnerabilities in 2025. These include a REST API access control bypass and an XML External Entity (XXE) flaw inherited from the GeoTools library.

CVE-2025-27505 — REST API Bypass

This vulnerability allowed attackers to exploit endpoints such as rest.html that were not properly filtered by the security layer. Exploitation could expose configuration metadata or installed extensions to unauthorized users.

Impact: Information disclosure through improperly protected REST routes.
Patched in: GeoServer 2.26.3 and 2.25.6.

CVE-2025-27505 — NVD Reference

CVE-2025-30220 — GeoTools XXE Vulnerability

An underlying library flaw in gt-xsd-core permitted XXE injection, enabling potential data exfiltration or SSRF through crafted XML payloads. This affected GeoServer deployments that accepted user-supplied XML or WFS/WPS requests.

Patched in: GeoServer 2.27.1, 2.26.3, and 2.25.7.
Mitigation: Disable external entity processing and apply parser security policies.

CVE-2025-30220 — NVD Reference

Hardening Recommendations

  • Restrict public access to /rest endpoints.
  • Update to the latest stable GeoServer release.
  • Review logs for suspicious REST calls or XML payloads.
  • Enable WAF or reverse proxy filtering for XML content.

GeoSecureTech Support

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References

GeoServer CVE-2025-27505 CVE-2025-30220 REST API XXE Security
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