CVE-2026-42404 Apache Neethi: Unrestricted HTTP Redirect Following in Policy References
Attackers can force applications using Apache Neethi to make arbitrary outbound requests, potentially accessing internal resources or sensitive data.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-42404?
CVE-2026-42404 is a medium-severity server-side request forgery 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 impose any restrictions on URIs when manually fetching remote policy references through the PolicyReference API. When an application explicitly calls the API to retrieve a policy from a remote URI, an outbound request is made for arbitrary protocols and internal IP adddresses. From 3.2.2, only http or https URIs are allowed, and link-local/multicast/any-local addresses are forbidden.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.2, which fixes this issue.
Weakness: CWE-918
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-42404?
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-2026-42404?
Upgrade org.apache.neethi:neethi to 3.2.2 or later.
Upgrade, and send outbound requests through an allow-list that blocks internal addresses. More about Server-side request forgery.
Is CVE-2026-42404 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-42404 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-JI48022, CLEANSTART-2026-QC22199, CLSA-2026-1782867592, ECHO-06a8-1e7c-e481, GHSA-287c-fxr7-3w6c.