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CVE-2026-108039

HIGH 7.5

Published 2026-10-09 · Last modified 2026-10-15

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.

ELEVATED IMPACT

Severe if exploited (CVSS 7.5), but no known exploitation and low modeled probability. Patch on a normal cadence.

Exploitation likelihood

0.5%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 38th percentile

○ In CISA KEV ○ Public exploit / PoC

Impact if exploited

7.5CVSS 3.1 · HIGH

  • ConfidentialityNone
  • IntegrityNone
  • AvailabilityHigh

What an attacker needs

  • ✓Access: Reachable over the network — no local access needed
  • ✓Privileges: No account or privileges required
  • ✓User interaction: No user interaction needed
  • ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable

✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it

Proof of concept & exploit code

Test against your own equipment

curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2026-108039/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).

Listed for defensive triage, patch verification, and authorized testing on systems you own. Machine-readable: /cve/CVE-2026-108039/poc.json

Affected

Vendors Apache Software Foundation Apache

Products Apache Cxf Cxf

Weakness (CWE)

  • CWE-776: Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion')

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Known Affected Software Configurations

VendorProductVersion range
ApacheCxf< 3.6.13
ApacheCxf≥ 4.0.0 and < 4.1.9
ApacheCxf≥ 4.2.0 and < 4.2.4

All CVSS metrics

  • HIGH 7.5 v3.1 · ADP Primary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
  • HIGH 7.5 v3.1 · NVD Secondary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References

Advisories

Sources: NVD · CVE.org · EPSS