CVE-2026-53913 Apache Camel: KeycloakSecurityPolicy has Improper Authentication, Missing Authentication for Critical Function and Failing Open Vulnerabilities
Attackers can bypass authentication in Apache Camel Keycloak routes by sending any non-null bearer token, potentially leading to unauthenticated remote code execution.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-53913?
CVE-2026-53913 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Apache Camel, published on 6 Jul 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Improper Authentication, Missing Authentication for Critical Function, Not Failing Securely ('Failing Open') vulnerability in Apache Camel Keycloak Component.
The KeycloakSecurityPolicy of camel-keycloak guards a route by running KeycloakSecurityProcessor.beforeProcess(), which performs three checks in sequence: it rejects a request that carries no access token, then - only if requiredRoles is non-empty - validates the roles, and - only if requiredPermissions is non-empty - validates the permissions. The actual cryptographic verification of the bearer access token (signature, issuer and expiry for a local JWT, or active-state and issuer for token introspection) is performed exclusively inside those role and permission checks. KeycloakSecurityPolicy defaults requiredRoles and requiredPermissions to empty - which is the documented 'Basic Setup' - so on a route configured that way the role and permission checks are skipped and the access token is therefore never verified. The token-presence check still rejects a missing token, but an invalid token is accepted: any non-null value in the Authorization: Bearer header - including an arbitrary string or a forged, unsigned JWT - passes the policy and the request reaches the protected route, with no signature, issuer or expiry check and no request to Keycloak. The token is read from the inbound request header because allowTokenFromHeader defaults to true. Because the normal reason to place a route behind this policy is that the route performs server-side work, the bypass results in unauthenticated access to that work; where the protected route forwards to a code-execution-capable producer, it can result in unauthenticated remote code execution. This defect is independent of CVE-2026-23552: that issue concerned the issuer claim and was fixed by adding a check inside the verification routine, but here the verification routine is not reached at all in the default configuration, so the defect remains. This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.15.0 before 4.18.3, from 4.19.0 before 4.21.0.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.21.0, which fixes the issue. If users are on the 4.18.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.18.3. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, configure a non-empty requiredRoles or requiredPermissions on every KeycloakSecurityPolicy so that the token-verification path is exercised, set allowTokenFromHeader to false where the token is not expected from the request header, or perform token verification at the framework layer ahead of the policy.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53913?
4 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.camel:camel-keycloak. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.apache.camel:camel-keycloak Maven | From 4.15.0 | 4.18.3 |
org.apache.camel:camel-keycloak Maven | From 4.15.0 | 4.18.3 |
org.apache.camel:camel-keycloak Maven | From 4.19.0 | 4.21.0 |
org.apache.camel:camel-keycloak Maven | From 4.19.0 | 4.21.0 |
Products include Apache Camel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-53913?
Upgrade org.apache.camel:camel-keycloak to a fixed version for your release line: 4.18.3 or 4.21.0.
Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.
Is CVE-2026-53913 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53913 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Other vulnerabilities in Apache Camel
- CVE-2026-33453 Apache camel-coap allows header injection that can lead to remote code execution
- CVE-2026-40453 Apache Camel has an incomplete fix for CVE-2025-27636
- CVE-2026-80351 Apache Camel K: Camel K Tenant repositories reach Maven execution inside operator pod
- CVE-2026-80352 Apache Camel K: Camel K Master trait serviceAccountName YAML injection lets CR author apply arbitrary objects
- CVE-2026-71300 Apache Camel: Camel-Atmosphere-Websocket: WebSocket dispatch header injection
Sources
Also known as GHSA-qvc3-6q9x-95pj.