Vulnerability · Published Oct 9, 2026 · Assigned by apache
CVE-2026-97468Apache CXF: Authentication bypass via weak cache keys for validated STS tokens
Critical 9.1
In plain English
A critical-severity security flaw in Apache CXF from Apache Software Foundation. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 13% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official description
Apache CXF's STSTokenValidator and Security Token Service (STS) cached validated security tokens under a non-cryptographic 32-bit hash of the token (Java Arrays.hashCode/hashCode()), and treated a cache hit as proof that the presented token had already been validated. An attacker could craft a token (for example a UsernameToken or a self-signed SAML Assertion) whose hash collides with a cached entry. The token would then be accepted without password validation, signature trust verification or a call to the STS. This could let the attacker authenticate as another user and, through STS token validation or renewal, obtain STS-signed tokens for that identity. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.2.4 or 4.1.9 or 3.6.13, which fix this issue.
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Apache Software Foundation | Apache CXF | 4.2.0 – before 4.2.44.0.0 – before 4.1.90 – before 3.6.13 |
Weakness: CWE-328 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N