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.

Project Subscriptions

Vendors Products
Advisories
Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-g36m-9g3m-2vmp Apache Neethi is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack through algorithmic complexity in policy normalization
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Thu, 14 May 2026 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-770
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

threat_severity

Moderate


Fri, 01 May 2026 18:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Apache
Apache neethi
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:apache:neethi:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Apache
Apache neethi

Fri, 01 May 2026 17:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Fri, 01 May 2026 14:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Fri, 01 May 2026 09:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Apache Neethi: Policy Normalization Unbounded Resource Allocation DoS
Weaknesses CWE-400
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}


Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: apache

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-01T16:21:05.909Z

Reserved: 2026-04-27T10:27:13.637Z

Link: CVE-2026-42402

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-05-01T16:21:05.909Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2026-05-01T09:16:16.980

Modified: 2026-05-01T18:08:59.950

Link: CVE-2026-42402

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2026-05-01T08:54:41Z

Links: CVE-2026-42402 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-14T13:30:06Z

Weaknesses