CVE-2014-3623 Improper Authentication in Apache WSS4J

What is CVE-2014-3623?

CVE-2014-3623 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Apache Cxf, published on 30 Oct 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Apache WSS4J before 1.6.17 and 2.x before 2.0.2, as used in Apache CXF 2.7.x before 2.7.13 and 3.0.x before 3.0.2, when using TransportBinding, does not properly enforce the SAML SubjectConfirmation method security semantics, which allows remote attackers to conduct spoofing attacks via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-287

Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-3623?

4 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.ws.security:wss4j and org.apache.wss4j:wss4j-ws-security-dom. It affects 2 products.

Products include Apache Cxf, Apache Wss4j.

How do I fix CVE-2014-3623?

Upgrade org.apache.ws.security:wss4j to 1.6.17 or later.

Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.

Is CVE-2014-3623 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-3623 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Apache Cxf

• CVE-2012-2379 XML Signature/Encryption Not Validated in Apache CXF Critical 10.0
• CVE-2026-66909 Apache CXF: Unsafe deserialization of inbound JMS ObjectMessage Critical 9.8
• CVE-2026-68079 Apache CXF: DefaultEncryptingCodeDataProvider allows unlimited authorization code replay Critical 9.8
• CVE-2026-50628 Apache CXF: OAuth2: Inverted IP Binding Check Defeats Security Control Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-48913 Apache CXF: Untrusted JMS configuration can lead to RCE Critical 9.8

All Apache Cxf vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-99v3-9x35-c5vf, MGASA-2014-0552.