CVE-2026-91863

Analyzed Analyzed - Analysis Complete

WS-Policy Parser Stack Exhaustion in Apache Neethi

Publication date: 2026-09-21

Last updated on: 2026-09-24

Assigner: Apache Software Foundation

Description

A specially crafted WS-Policy document with deeply nested policy elements can bypass Neethi's nesting-depth limit and exhaust the thread stack, crashing the parser (denial of service). Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.4, which fixes this issue.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-21

Last Modified

2026-09-24

Generated

2026-10-11

AI Q&A

2026-09-21

EPSS Evaluated

2026-10-10

NVD

CVE-2026-91863

EUVD

EUVD-2026-83885

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
apache	neethi	to 3.2.4 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-674	The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability involves a specially crafted WS-Policy document with deeply nested policy elements. It can bypass Neethi's nesting-depth limit, causing the parser to exhaust the thread stack and crash, resulting in a denial of service.

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking the version of Apache Neethi installed on your system. If you are running a version before 3.2.4, your system is vulnerable. Use commands like 'find / -name "neethi*.jar" 2>/dev/null' to locate Neethi JAR files, then check the version with 'unzip -p <jar-file> META-INF/MANIFEST.MF | grep Implementation-Version'.

Impact Analysis

The vulnerability can crash the parser, leading to service disruption or downtime. If exploited, it may cause denial of service, preventing the affected system from processing legitimate requests.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily causes a denial-of-service condition by crashing the parser due to stack exhaustion. It does not directly affect data confidentiality or integrity, which are key concerns for GDPR and HIPAA. However, prolonged denial-of-service could impact system availability, potentially leading to compliance issues if critical services are disrupted.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Apache Neethi to version 3.2.4 or later to fix the vulnerability.

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