A flaw was found in the way Apache CXF handle exceptions when CXF is configured to use the com.sun.net.ssl implementation via System.setProperty("java.protocol.handler.pkgs", "com.sun.net.ssl.internal.www.protocol") function. When this system property is set, CXF uses some reflection to try to make the HostnameVerifier work with the old com.sun.net.ssl.HostnameVerifier interface. However, the default HostnameVerifier implementation in CXF does not implement the method in this interface therefore an exception is thrown. The exception is caught in the reflection code but not properly propagated which leaves CXF client subject to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Upstream Patch: https://github.com/apache/cxf/commit/fae6fabf9bd7647f5e9cb68897a7d7