CVE-2026-85250
Received Received - Intake

XML External Entity Injection in Apache Camel

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-85250, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-10-19

Last updated on: 2026-10-19

Assigner: Apache Software Foundation

Description

Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference vulnerability in Apache Camel XPath component. This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.0.0 before 4.18.5, from 4.19.0 before 4.22.1. With documentType set to InputSource, XPathBuilder handed the payload straight to javax.xml.xpath, which builds a DocumentBuilder of its own using the JDK defaults. The hardening applied to Camel's default document type was therefore bypassed: a DOCTYPE declaration that is refused on the default type was accepted here, and the external entity it declared was resolved and expanded into the evaluated document. An external sender whose XML reaches such an expression could read files readable by the Camel process and cause the process to issue requests to hosts it names. The two document types disagreeing on parser configuration is what made this reachable, since a deployment choosing InputSource for streaming reasons had no indication it was also choosing a weaker parser. Upgrade to Apache Camel 4.23.0, which fixes the issue. Users on the 4.18.x LTS releases stream should upgrade to 4.18.5. Users on the 4.22.x LTS releases stream should upgrade to 4.22.1. The InputSource document type now goes through the same hardened parser as the default type, so a DOCTYPE is refused. Note that it also shares that type's documented escape hatch: the same DocumentBuilderFactory system properties that relax the default type relax this one, so a deployment that has set them remains unprotected by design. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, do not use documentType=InputSource on expressions evaluated over untrusted XML; the default document type already refuses a DOCTYPE.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published
2026-10-19
Last Modified
2026-10-19
Generated
2026-10-19
AI Q&A
2026-10-19
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
Apache Software Foundation Apache Camel 4.0.0
Apache Software Foundation Apache Camel 4.19.0

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-611 The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This is an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in Apache Camel's XPath component. It occurs when the documentType is set to InputSource, bypassing Camel's default security hardening. This allows attackers to include malicious DOCTYPE declarations that can read files accessible to the Camel process or make network requests.

Detection Guidance

To detect this vulnerability, check if your Apache Camel version is within the affected ranges (4.0.0 to 4.18.4 or 4.19.0 to 4.22.0). Run commands like 'camel --version' or check your application's dependency files (e.g., pom.xml for Maven) to verify the version.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to read sensitive files on the system running Apache Camel or make unauthorized network requests. This could lead to data breaches, information disclosure, or internal network probing.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, violating GDPR's data protection principles and HIPAA's security requirements for protected health information. Non-compliance may result in legal penalties and reputational damage.

Mitigation Strategies

Immediately upgrade Apache Camel to version 4.23.0 or apply the latest patches for your LTS stream (4.18.5 for 4.18.x or 4.22.1 for 4.22.x). Avoid using documentType=InputSource on expressions processing untrusted XML.

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