Vulnerability · Published May 1, 2026 · Assigned by apache
CVE-2026-42402Apache Neethi: Policy Normalization Unbounded Resource Allocation DoS
High 7.5
In plain English
A high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption in Apache Neethi 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 0.7% (higher than 54% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
Apache Neethi is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack through algorithmic complexity in policy normalization. Specially crafted WS-Policy documents can trigger an exponential Cartesian cross-product expansion during the normalization process, causing unbounded memory allocation that exhausts the JVM heap. This occurs when the normalization process generates an excessive number of policy alternatives without bounds, leading to runtime memory exhaustion. Users should upgrade to 3.2.2 which limits the maximum number of normalized policy alternatives.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maven | org.apache.neethi:neethi | 3.2.2 | GHSA-g36m-9g3m-2vmp |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Apache Software Foundation | Apache Neethi | 0 – before 3.2.2 |
Weakness: CWE-400 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H