Resource exhaustion in Apache Neethi
CVE-2026-42403
Apache Neethi does not properly detect circular references in policy definitions. When a WS-Policy document contains circular policy references (where Policy A references Policy B which references Policy A), the policy normalization process can enter an infinite loop or cause excessive recursion, leading to a stack overflow or application hang. An attacker can craft malicious policy documents with circular references to cause a Denial of Service condition Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.2, which fixes this issue.
Vulnerability class: DoS (Denial of Service)
EPSS: 0.008 (53.0th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Affected products
- Apache Neethi
- Apache Software Foundation Neethi — versions 0
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- security@apache.org (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Vendor Advisory)
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-42403?
- CVE-2026-42403 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apache Neethi, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-05-01.
- How severe is CVE-2026-42403?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.