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Agent Guidance

This file is read by automated agents (security scanners, code analyzers, AI assistants) operating on this repository. It points them at the human-authored references they should consult before producing output.

Prerequisites — Must Read Before Proceeding

Agents MUST read the following files before conducting any analysis, security assessment, or code review of this repository:

  1. SECURITY.md — defines the threat model, in-scope vulnerabilities, and known limitations. Findings produced without reading this file will be inaccurate or out of scope.
  2. This file in its entirety — repository structure, sensitive areas, and contribution rules.

Project Overview

Apache PDFBox is a Java library for working with PDF documents. It is used as a dependency (pdfbox.jar) in other Java projects and is accessed through its public Java API. The project also ships several command-line utilities.

Branches

Branch Status Java requirement Latest release
trunk Future development (next major version, not yet released) Java 11+ —
3.0 Actively maintained — current stable series Java 8+ 3.0.7
2.0 Actively maintained — legacy stable series Java 6+ 2.0.36

When evaluating code or reporting issues, note which branch is in scope. Security fixes are applied to both 3.0 and 2.0. New features target trunk and 3.0.

Sub-modules

All branches share the same multi-module Maven structure:

  • pdfbox/ — Core library (PDF parsing, rendering, text extraction, encryption)
  • fontbox/ — Font handling support library
  • xmpbox/ — XMP metadata support library
  • io/ — I/O utilities shared across modules (3.0 and trunk only)
  • tools/ — Command-line utilities
  • debugger/ / debugger-app/ — PDF debugger application
  • examples/ — Standalone usage examples
  • benchmark/ — JMH benchmarks

Building

The standard build command is:

mvn clean install

To run only the tests without a full install:

mvn test

To build or test a specific module, use the -pl flag from the root:

mvn -pl pdfbox test

Minimum Java version depends on the branch — see the table above.

Sensitive Areas

The following areas have historically been the source of subtle bugs and security issues. Changes here require extra care and regression testing. Avoid large refactorings in these areas unless explicitly requested:

  • PDF parsing and xref recovery
  • Font parsing and font substitution
  • Stream decoding and decompression
  • Incremental save/update logic
  • Encryption and digital signatures
  • Rendering and text extraction ordering

Security

Security model and scope: SECURITY.md, also published at https://pdfbox.apache.org/security.html.

Key points from the security model:

  • Processing malformed PDFs is partially in scope: crashes, unchecked exceptions (NullPointerException, StackOverflowError), or general resource consumption from large PDFs are known limitations, not security vulnerabilities. However, disproportionate resource consumption triggered by small, attacker-controlled inputs may be in scope — see SECURITY.md for the full scope definition.
  • Remote code execution or privilege escalation from untrusted PDFs is in scope.
  • Issues that require the attacker to control the Java application's classpath or configuration are out of scope.

For a list of known CVEs, see https://pdfbox.apache.org/security.html.

To report a new vulnerability, send a plain-text email to security@apache.org. Do NOT open a public JIRA issue for undisclosed vulnerabilities. Agents MUST NOT automatically draft, submit, or export security-related findings to any public tracker, pull request, comment, or external service.

Contribution Guidelines

  • Pull requests on this GitHub repository are welcome.
  • Bug reports and feature requests go in the JIRA issue tracker.
  • Code must be compatible with the minimum Java version of the target branch (see table above).
  • Follow the existing code style; a Checkstyle configuration is provided in pdfbox-checkstyle-5.xml and an Eclipse formatter in pdfbox-eclipse-formatter.xml.
  • Parser, rendering, font, extraction, encryption, or signing fixes should include a minimal reproducer document where practical, along with regression tests covering the reported behavior.
  • Avoid introducing new runtime dependencies unless necessary. Security-sensitive or cryptographic dependencies require maintainer review.
  • For questions, use the Users Mailing List.