CVE-2026-108039

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

Published Oct 9, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.5 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
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.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:apache:cxf:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-776
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-674
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-770
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Important

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Apache
Apache cxf
Weaknesses CWE-674
Vendors & Products Apache
Apache cxf
Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Apache CXF: Prevent unbounded XML document size in StaxUtils by adding default element and character limits
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
apache
Published
Updated
Oct 15, 2026, 5:55 PM
Reserved
Oct 9, 2026, 9:27 AM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Oct 9, 2026, 11:17 AM
Modified
Oct 16, 2026, 6:04 PM
Severity
Important
Public date
Oct 9, 2026, 10:22 AM