Apache Tiles Vulnerable to XSS via EL Expression Injection

published 2009-04-09 17 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also GHSA-2c6q-rgvj-66rx , EUVD-2022-1959

cvss: 6.8; version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 2.8%; EPSS 2.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 86%
public exploits: 0; none known

Apache Tiles 2.1 before 2.1.2, as used in Apache Struts and other products, evaluates Expression Language (EL) expressions twice in certain circumstances, which allows remote attackers to conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks or obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors, related to the (1) tiles:putAttribute and (2) tiles:insertTemplate JSP tags.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1 distros 1

maven org.apache.tiles:tiles-core 2.1.2

tiles Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.2.0-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2009-1275

Exploit prediction

2.81% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 86% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	2.0	6.8	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
maven	org.apache.tiles:tiles-core	>=2.1, <2.1.2	2.1.2

Classification

Weakness

CWE-87 Improper Neutralization of Alternate XSS Syntax
CWE-917 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an Expression Language Statement

References

issues.apache.org /struts/browse/TILES-351
vendor-advisory
svn.apache.org /viewvc/tiles/framework/trunk/src/site/apt/security/security-bulletin-1.apt?revision=741913
web, vendor-advisory
securityfocus.com /bid/34657
vdb-entry
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2009-1275
advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2009-1275
GitHub Advisory GHSA-2c6q-rgvj-66rx
NVD CVE-2009-1275

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary