CVE-2026-108039: Vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Apache CXF
Description
By default, StaxUtils placed no limit on the total number of elements or the total number of characters in an XML document. A very large request could therefore use a lot of memory and CPU during parsing, especially where CXF builds a DOM from the input (for example SAAJ or WS-Security), and could cause a denial of service when no request size limit was configured. Both limits now have defaults: the maximum element count is 100 × maxChildElements (5,000,000 by default), and the maximum document size is 256M characters. Applications that process larger documents can raise the limits with the org.apache.cxf.stax.maxElementCount and org.apache.cxf.stax.maxXMLCharacters properties. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.2.4 or 4.1.9 or 3.6.13, which fix this issue.
Affected software
Apache Software Foundation
Apache CXF
pkg:maven/Apache Software Foundation/org.apache.cxf:cxf-coreRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability in Apache CXF arises because StaxUtils did not impose limits on the total number of elements or characters in XML documents by default. This lack of limits allows very large XML requests to exhaust system resources during parsing, especially when CXF builds a DOM from the input (e.g., SAAJ or WS-Security). The fix introduces default maximum limits: 5,000,000 elements (100 × maxChildElements) and 256 million characters per document. Applications requiring larger limits can configure these via org.apache.cxf.stax.maxElementCount and org.apache.cxf.stax.maxXMLCharacters. Users are advised to upgrade to Apache CXF versions 4.2.4, 4.1.9, or 3.6.13 or later to remediate this issue.
Potential Impact
Without limits on XML document size and element count, an attacker could send very large XML requests that consume excessive memory and CPU resources during parsing, potentially causing denial of service conditions in affected Apache CXF applications. This impacts availability but does not indicate direct code execution or data breach from the provided data.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade Apache CXF to version 4.2.4, 4.1.9, or 3.6.13 or later, where default limits on XML element count and document size are enforced. Alternatively, configure the properties org.apache.cxf.stax.maxElementCount and org.apache.cxf.stax.maxXMLCharacters to appropriate values to limit resource consumption during XML parsing.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- apache
- Date Reserved
- 2026-10-09T09:27:04.033Z
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6ac8c31f2cdf04f6564c0cd5
Added to database: 10/09/2026, 10:34:07 UTC
Last enriched: 10/09/2026, 10:49:27 UTC
Last updated: 10/09/2026, 18:57:32 UTC
Views: 18
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