CVE-2026-42403 Apache Neethi: Circular Policy Reference Infinite Loop
Attackers can cause denial of service in applications using Apache Neethi by submitting policy documents with circular references, triggering infinite loops or stack overflows.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-42403?
CVE-2026-42403 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Apache Neethi, published on 1 May 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
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.
Weakness: CWE-400
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-42403?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.neethi:neethi. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.apache.neethi:neethi Maven | All versions | 3.2.2 |
org.apache.neethi:neethi Maven | All versions | 3.2.2 |
Products include Apache Neethi.
How do I fix CVE-2026-42403?
Upgrade org.apache.neethi:neethi to 3.2.2 or later.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-42403 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-42403 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Apache Neethi
- CVE-2026-91863 Apache Neethi: Uncontrolled recursion while parsing crafted WS-Policy documents allows denial of service
- CVE-2026-91864 Apache Neethi: Crafted WS-Policy documents bypass element/attribute limits causing memory exhaustion
- CVE-2026-91865 Apache Neethi: Crafted policy references cause exponential expansion during normalization leading to denial of service
- CVE-2026-91866 Apache Neethi: Crafted policies cause unbounded work during intersection leading to denial of service
- CVE-2026-66142 Apache Neethi: Uncontrolled recursion in policy processing
Sources
Also known as CLEANSTART-2026-DE70000, CLEANSTART-2026-LX82916, CLSA-2026-1784682823, CLSA-2026-1793138734, CLSA-2026-1793138829, ECHO-9f6b-0e44-5961 and 1 more.