CVE-2026-41731

Modified Modified - Updated After Analysis

Deserialization Flaw in Spring for Apache Kafka

Publication date: 2026-06-10

Last updated on: 2026-06-30

Assigner: VMware

Description

JsonKafkaHeaderMapper and the deprecated DefaultKafkaHeaderMapper matched type headers against trusted packages using a prefix check, meaning that trusting any package implicitly trusted all of its subpackages. Combined with Jackson's default bean deserialization, a producer could supply crafted header values that caused the consumer to deserialize arbitrary JDK types. Affected versions: Spring for Apache Kafka 4.0.0 through 4.0.5; 3.3.0 through 3.3.15; 3.2.0 through 3.2.13; 2.9.0 through 2.9.13; 2.8.0 through 2.8.11.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
Percentile:

Meta Information

Published

2026-06-10

Last Modified

2026-06-30

Generated

2026-06-30

AI Q&A

2026-06-10

EPSS Evaluated

2026-06-29

NVD

CVE-2026-41731

EUVD

EUVD-2026-35908

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
vmware	spring_for_apache_kafka	From 2.8.0 (inc) to 2.8.11 (inc)
vmware	spring_for_apache_kafka	From 2.9.0 (inc) to 2.9.13 (inc)
vmware	spring_for_apache_kafka	From 3.2.0 (inc) to 3.2.13 (inc)
vmware	spring_for_apache_kafka	From 3.3.0 (inc) to 3.3.15 (inc)
vmware	spring_for_apache_kafka	From 4.0.0 (inc) to 4.0.5 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-502	The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-41731 is a vulnerability in Spring for Apache Kafka where the JsonKafkaHeaderMapper and the deprecated DefaultKafkaHeaderMapper used a prefix check to match trusted packages. This meant that trusting a package implicitly trusted all its subpackages.

Because of this, combined with Jackson's default bean deserialization, an attacker could craft malicious header values that cause the consumer to deserialize arbitrary Java JDK types. This could include classes that have side effects such as allocating file descriptors or spawning thread pools.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause unintended side effects on the consumer application by deserializing crafted header values. This can lead to severe impacts such as resource exhaustion, denial of service, or unauthorized actions within the affected system.

Compliance Impact

The provided information does not specify any direct impact of this vulnerability on compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.

Mitigation Strategies

The immediate step to mitigate this vulnerability is to upgrade Spring for Apache Kafka to one of the fixed versions: 4.0.6, 3.3.16, 3.2.14, 2.9.14, or 2.8.12.

No additional mitigation steps are required beyond upgrading.

Detection Guidance

There are no specific detection commands or network/system detection methods provided for this vulnerability.

The recommended action is to verify the version of Spring for Apache Kafka in use and upgrade to a fixed version if it falls within the affected ranges.

Check the Spring for Apache Kafka version in your environment.
Upgrade to one of the fixed versions: 4.0.6, 3.3.16, 3.2.14, 2.9.14, or 2.8.12.

No additional mitigation or detection commands are specified.

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