REDHAT-BUG-2548463: High severity Apache CXF vulnerability

Published Oct 9, 2026
·
Updated

In Apache CXF, the parser for multipart/MTOM attachment part headers did not fully enforce the configured attachment-max-header-size (default 300 characters) and attachment-headers-max-count (default 500) limits. The size limit was applied only to each physical line, not to a header value built from continuation lines or to the combined values of a repeated header. The count limit was checked against the number of distinct header names, not the total number of header lines. A remote, unauthenticated attacker could send a multipart request with very large folded or repeated part headers. The server would then allocate memory without bound, causing a denial of service. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.2.4 or 4.1.9 or 3.6.13, which fix this issue.

Affected Software

1 affected component
Apache CXF<4.2.4, <4.1.9, <3.6.13

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade Apache CXF to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 4.2.4
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade Apache CXF to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 4.1.9
  3. Upgrade

    Upgrade Apache CXF to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 3.6.13

Event History

Oct 9, 2026
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·10:31 AM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software

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