CVE-2026-42402
HighSummary
Apache Neethi is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack due to algorithmic complexity in policy normalization. Specially crafted WS-Policy documents can trigger an exponential Cartesian cross-product expansion during the normalization process, leading to unbounded memory allocation and JVM heap exhaustion.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can exploit this vulnerability to exhaust memory resources, resulting in application crashes and service downtime. This can have serious implications for the availability of systems within the organization.
Recommendation
It is recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.2, which limits the maximum number of normalized policy alternatives. This will help prevent memory exhaustion during normalization.
Other vulnerabilities in Apache Neethi
See all- CVE-2026-42403High
Apache Neethi does not properly detect circular references in policy definitions. Circular references in WS-Policy documents can lead to an infinite loop or excessive recursion, resulting in a stack overflow or application hang.
- CVE-2026-66144High
Denial of service vulnerability in Apache Neethi when manually retrieving remote policy references via API. Retrieving a huge policy can cause resource exhaustion. Fixed in version 3.2.3 by imposing a default maximum data size.
- CVE-2026-66143High
Bypass of the maximum number of normalized policy alternatives in Apache Neethi 3.2.2 via crafted policies, potentially leading to DoS via resource consumption. Fixed in version 3.2.3.
- CVE-2026-66142High
Uncontrolled recursion vulnerability in Apache Neethi when parsing policies without IDs or with deeply nested structures, leading to DoS via memory exhaustion. Fixed in version 3.2.3.
Original NVD description (English source)
Apache Neethi is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack through algorithmic complexity in policy normalization. Specially crafted WS-Policy documents can trigger an exponential Cartesian cross-product expansion during the normalization process, causing unbounded memory allocation that exhausts the JVM heap. This occurs when the normalization process generates an excessive number of policy alternatives without bounds, leading to runtime memory exhaustion. Users should upgrade to 3.2.2 which limits the maximum number of normalized policy alternatives.