CVE-2026-40996 Inbound WS-Security allows RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 key transport by default
Spring Web Services defaults to insecure RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 key transport, allowing attackers to bypass cryptographic protections in inbound WS-Security decryption.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-40996?
CVE-2026-40996 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Spring Web Services, published on 11 Jun 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Wss4jSecurityInterceptor defaulted allowRSA15KeyTransportAlgorithm to true, overriding Apache WSS4J's safer default for validation RequestData. Inbound WS-Security decryption could therefore accept RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 (rsa-1_5) encrypted key material unless operators explicitly reconfigured the flag.
Affected versions: Spring Web Services 5.0.0 through 5.0.1; 4.1.0 through 4.1.3; 4.0.0 through 4.0.18; 3.1.0 through 3.1.8.
Weakness: CWE-327
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-40996?
8 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security Maven | From 3.1.0 to 3.1.8 | None |
org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security Maven | From 3.1.0 to 3.1.8 | None |
org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security Maven | From 4.0.0 to 4.0.18 | None |
org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security Maven | From 4.0.0 to 4.0.18 | None |
org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security Maven | From 4.1.0 | 4.1.4 |
org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security Maven | From 4.1.0 | 4.1.4 |
2 more packages
org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security Maven | From 5.0.0 | 5.0.2 |
org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security Maven | From 5.0.0 | 5.0.2 |
Products include Broadcom Spring Web Services.
How do I fix CVE-2026-40996?
Upgrade org.springframework.ws:spring-ws-security to a fixed version for your release line: 4.1.4 or 5.0.2.
Is CVE-2026-40996 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-40996 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Spring Web Services
- CVE-2019-3773 Spring Web Services XML External Entity Injection (XXE)
- CVE-2026-40999 Spring WS SSRF via unvalidated WS-Addressing reply destinations
- CVE-2026-40994 Wss4jSecurityInterceptor disables WS-I BSP validation by default
- CVE-2026-40998 Jaxp13 XPath XXE via StreamSource and SAXSource
- CVE-2026-40995 X.509 authentication bypasses Spring Security account checks
Sources
Also known as GHSA-p7qj-2q5w-f9r7.