CVE-2026-108039

Apache CXF: Prevent unbounded XML document size in StaxUtils by adding default element and character limits

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: October 9, 2026 at 10:22 AM UTC
Updated: October 16, 2026 at 06:04 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorCXF

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.5%
SSVC
No known exploit

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

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

95%
v < 3.6.134.0.0 ≤ v < 4.1.94.2.0 ≤ v < 4.2.44.0.04.2.0

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (2)

Vendor AdvisoryIssue TrackingMailing List
Source: cverecord
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ms2gbpof609o0v1bjlzb1rn7fwh61l1j
Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/10/09/14

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.5HIGHCISA-ADP
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-776

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