Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessIdentify CXF service with self-issued OIDC tokens enabled
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DeliveryCraft JWT with arbitrary iss/sub/aud claims and no valid expiry
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ExploitSubmit crafted token to OIDC-protected endpoint
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ExecutionCXF validator skips all required claim and sub_jwk binding checks
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ImpactObtain authenticated session as any chosen user identity
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A08:2025 - Software or Data Integrity Failures
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Data authenticity verification
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| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires that the Apache CXF relying-party has been explicitly configured to accept self-issued OIDC ID tokens - this is a non-default setting that must be deliberately opted into by the application operator. Any CXF deployment using standard federated OIDC identity providers (Keycloak, Azure AD, Okta, Ping Identity, etc.) is not affected regardless of version. The attacker must be able to reach the OIDC-protected CXF service endpoint over the network, and must know or discover that the self-issued token acceptance mode is active. No authentication credentials are required to attempt exploitation - that is the nature of the bypass. Limiting factors include: the non-default configuration dramatically narrows the exposed population; prior reconnaissance is needed to confirm the feature is enabled; and internal-only deployments further reduce exposure. |
| Impact | No official CVSS vector or EPSS score was provided; all scoring is analyst-derived. This vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, and no public proof-of-concept has been identified at time of analysis. The most significant real-world risk limiter is the non-default configuration requirement: self-issued OIDC token acceptance must be explicitly enabled in CXF's relying-party setup. Standard federated deployments using external identity providers (Keycloak, Azure AD, Okta) are entirely unaffected. Organizations that have opted into self-issued OIDC should treat this as high priority given the complete authentication bypass potential and the low exploit complexity once the precondition is met. The gap between the broad CPE coverage (all versions) and the narrow practical attack surface (non-default feature) means aggregate exposure across the CXF user base is likely low, though individual affected deployments face severe impact. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker aware that a target CXF service has self-issued OIDC token acceptance enabled crafts a JWT bearing arbitrary iss, sub, and aud claims with no valid expiry or sub_jwk binding, then submits it directly to the OIDC-protected CXF endpoint. The defective validator accepts the token without verifying any OIDC claims, granting the attacker an authenticated session as any chosen identity - including privileged users or administrators. No public proof-of-concept has been identified, but JWT construction is well-understood, making exploitation straightforward for an attacker with knowledge of the non-default configuration. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Aug 06, 2026
Authentication bypass in Apache CXF's OIDC relying-party implementation allows network-accessible attackers to forge self-issued ID tokens that skip all required OpenID Connect claim checks - issuer, subject, audience, time bounds, and sub_jwk binding - effectively impersonating any user identity. Affected are all Apache CXF versions prior to 4.2.3, 4.1.8, and 3.6.12 when the relying party is explicitly configured to accept self-issued OIDC tokens, a non-default setting. No public exploit or CISA KEV listing has been identified at time of analysis, but the attack surface is constrained to a narrow set of deliberately misconfigured deployments.
RemediationAI
The primary fix is to upgrade Apache CXF to version 4.2.3, 4.1.8, or 3.6.12 depending on the branch in use; all three releases contain the claim validation enforcement fix. The vendor advisory is at https://lists.apache.org/thread/fzj8yzgfl53gclxrcdrnrx3grcpkq51j. For deployments that cannot patch immediately, the most effective compensating control is to disable self-issued OIDC ID token acceptance in CXF's relying-party configuration; since this feature is non-default, disabling it restores the secure-by-default posture without impacting deployments that use standard federated identity providers. If the self-issued OIDC feature is a genuine business requirement, restrict access to the OIDC-protected CXF endpoints to trusted internal network segments or VPN-only paths, reducing the exposed attack surface while upgrade planning proceeds - with the trade-off of added network operational overhead.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
Apache CXF is a widely-used Java services framework supporting SOAP, REST, WS-*, and OIDC-based authentication. Its OIDC relying-party component validates ID tokens per OpenID Connect Core 1.0. Self-issued ID tokens (Section 7 of OIDC Core) are a specialized mode where the end-user's own device acts as the identity provider, using a locally generated key pair; the sub_jwk claim binds the token to that key. CWE-345 (Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity) is the root cause: the CXF validator fails to enforce iss (issuer), sub (subject), aud (audience), exp/nbf (time validity), and sub_jwk (key binding) checks before accepting the token as valid. This means a crafted JWT with arbitrary identity claims passes the validator without any cryptographic or semantic verification. The CPE cpe:2.3:a:apache_software_foundation:apache_cxf:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* indicates all maintained branches (3.6.x, 4.1.x, 4.2.x) are affected prior to their respective fix releases.
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Severity by source
Sources disagree (Low–High)AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Non-default configuration required (AC:H); attacker submits forged token unauthenticated over network (AV:N/PR:N); full identity impersonation grants high C and I with no availability impact.
vuln.today treats the vendor’s rating as authoritative. A higher third-party CVSS (e.g. CISA-ADP) is shown for transparency but does not drive the headline severity.
CVSS VectorVendor: apache
Lifecycle Timeline
1DescriptionCVE.org
Apache CXF’s OIDC relying-party token validation could accept self-issued ID tokens without enforcing required claim checks (issuer/subject/audience/time and sub_jwk binding), enabling authentication bypass with crafted tokens. However, note that self-issued ID tokens are not accepted by default in the validator. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.2.3 or 4.1.8 or 3.6.12, which fixes this issue.
Articles & Coverage 1
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
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