High

Apache Neethi does not properly detect circular references in policy definitions.

  • Disclosed: 01.05.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 13:20

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.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) org.apache.neethi:neethi < 3.2.2 3.2.2

References

CVSS score 7.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-400
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
org.apache.neethi:neethi
Disclosed
01.05.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 13:20

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-2hfh-9h53-qc24 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: org.apache.neethi:neethi

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
3
First → latest
05.2026 05.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 2
  • Medium 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2026: 3
  1. Apache Neethi does not properly detect circular references in policy definitions. this entry
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-42403 < 3.2.2 3.2.2

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