Apache Neethi up to 3.2.1 resource consumption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as problematic has been detected in Apache Neethi up to 3.2.1. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality. Performing a manipulation results in resource consumption. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-42402. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apache Neethi up to 3.2.1. It has been classified as problematic. This affects some unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a resource consumption vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-400. The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

The advisory is shared at lists.apache.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-42402 since 04/27/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 06/24/2026). MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

Upgrading to version 3.2.2 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-2050). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty
• IBM WebSphere Application Server

Productinfo

Vendor

• Apache

Name

• Neethi

Version

• 3.2.0
• 3.2.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.apache.org/

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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