XML external entity (XXE) vulnerability in the Java XML processing functionality in Play before 2.2.6 and 2.3.x before 2.3.5 might allow remote attackers to read arbitrary files, cause a denial of service, or have unspecified other impact via crafted XML data.

A flaw was found in the way Netty’s CookieDecoder method validated cookie name and value characters. An attacker could use this flaw to bypass the httpOnly flag on sensitive cookies.

Upstream patch:

https://github.com/slandelle/netty/commit/800555417e77029dcf8a31d7de44f27b5a8f79b8

External References:

https://www.playframework.com/security/vulnerability/CVE-2015-2156-HttpOnlyBypass http://engineering.linkedin.com/security/look-netty%E2%80%99s-recent-security-update-cve%C2%AD-2015%C2%AD-2156