Copyright © 2012 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved. Moderate 2026-07-06T08:10:43 camel-kafka: Apache Camel Kafka Component: Message redirection and injection via header manipulation 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N CWE-20

Improper Input Validation, Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection') vulnerability in Apache Camel Kafka Component. The camel-kafka producer can override its configured target topic at runtime from the kafka.OVERRIDE_TOPIC Exchange header: KafkaProducer.evaluateTopic() returns the header value in preference to the topic configured on the endpoint. The control-header constants in KafkaConstants (for example OVERRIDE_TOPIC = kafka.OVERRIDE_TOPIC, OVERRIDE_TIMESTAMP = kafka.OVERRIDE_TIMESTAMP, PARTITION_KEY = kafka.PARTITION_KEY) used plain, non-Camel-prefixed values. camel-kafka's own KafkaHeaderFilterStrategy does filter the kafka.* namespace, but only on the Kafka-to-Exchange serialization boundary (reading Kafka record headers into the Exchange, and writing Exchange headers into a Kafka record); it does not apply to headers that arrive from an upstream consumer in a multi-component route. The upstream HTTP consumer uses HttpHeaderFilterStrategy, which blocks only the Camel / camel namespace, so a kafka.* header passes through unfiltered. As a result, in a route that bridges an HTTP consumer (for example platform-http) into a kafka: producer, any HTTP client could set the kafka.OVERRIDE_TOPIC header and cause the message to be published to an arbitrary Kafka topic instead of the configured one - redirecting it to a sensitive internal topic, or injecting attacker-crafted messages into a topic consumed by a critical downstream service. The related kafka.OVERRIDE_TIMESTAMP and kafka.PARTITION_KEY headers could likewise be injected to backdate messages or target specific partitions. No credentials are required when the bridging consumer is unauthenticated. This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.0.0 before 4.14.8, from 4.15.0 before 4.18.3, from 4.19.0 before 4.21.0. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.21.0, which fixes the issue. If users are on the 4.14.x LTS releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.14.8. If users are on the 4.18.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.18.3. After upgrading, routes that set or read Kafka headers via the raw header names must use the CamelKafka* names (for example CamelKafkaOverrideTopic and CamelKafkaTopic) instead of the old kafka.* values. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, strip the kafka.* headers from any untrusted ingress before the kafka: producer (for example removeHeaders('kafka.*') at the start of the route), and set the target topic from a trusted source.

A flaw was found in the Apache Camel Kafka Component. A remote attacker can exploit an improper input validation vulnerability by manipulating specific Kafka headers, such as `kafka.OVERRIDE_TOPIC`, when an HTTP consumer bridges into a Kafka producer. This allows the attacker to redirect messages to arbitrary Kafka topics, potentially injecting malicious content into sensitive internal topics or services. Additionally, attackers can manipulate `kafka.OVERRIDE_TIMESTAMP` and `kafka.PARTITION_KEY` headers to backdate messages or target specific partitions, leading to data integrity issues or denial of service. No authentication is required if the bridging consumer is unauthenticated.

A flaw was found in the Apache Camel Kafka component. The Kafka Exchange header constants use non-Camel-prefixed names (kafka.* format) that bypass the HTTP header filter, allowing an unauthenticated HTTP client to redirect messages to arbitrary Kafka topics, backdate timestamps, or target specific partitions. Red Hat builds of Apache Camel for Spring Boot and Quarkus ship the affected camel-kafka component. Strip the kafka.* headers from untrusted inbound messages before the Kafka producer (for example removeHeaders('kafka.*') at the start of the route), and set the target topic from a trusted source. Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4 for Quarkus 3 Fix deferred camel-kafka Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4 Fix deferred camel-kafka https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-49098 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-49098 https://camel.apache.org/security/CVE-2026-49098.html