CVE-2026-85250
Description
A flaw was found in Apache Camel's XPath component. This vulnerability can lead to information disclosure and unauthorized network requests when the component evaluates XML expressions using unhardened streaming parser configurations. A remote attacker can exploit this flaw by submitting specially crafted XML data containing external entity references, allowing them to read sensitive local files accessible to the application process or trigger outbound network requests.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Important because remote, unauthenticated attackers can exploit it over the network to read arbitrary local files accessible to the application or initiate unauthorized outbound requests. While default XPath configurations in Red Hat build of Apache Camel enforce secure XML processing and disallow DOCTYPE declarations, deployments explicitly setting the documentType option to InputSource bypass these protections. Systems are exposed only when routes parse untrusted external XML payloads using this specific streaming configuration.
Mitigation
--- CME Mitigation Guidance (2026-10-20) ---
Disclaimer: The following mitigation solutions are provided as a courtesy, pending the application of an official patch. This content was generated utilizing AI tools in conjunction with data from https://cmetaxonomy.org. Customers are advised to independently evaluate and test these temporary mitigations within their own infrastructure.
The highest-value action is to route InputSource payloads through Camel's hardened DocumentBuilderFactory to refuse DOCTYPE declarations instead of unhardened JDK defaults: upgrade to Apache Camel 4.18.5, 4.22.1, or 4.23.0 (or the fixed Camel Xpath builds), which route InputSource instances through toHardenedDocument using Camel's hardened DocumentBuilderFactory to refuse DOCTYPE declarations by default, closing all 2 injection vectors (crafted XML containing DOCTYPE entity references for local file disclosure, crafted XML containing external system identifiers triggering outbound HTTP requests (SSRF)). Until patched, this is a concern on deployments evaluating XPath expressions with documentType set to InputSource over untrusted XML, so avoid using documentType=InputSource on expressions evaluated over untrusted XML and ensure DocumentBuilderFactory system properties do not relax parser hardening. As a compensating measure, block outbound network connections from the application host to contain SSRF vectors triggered by external entity system identifiers and deploy runtime detection to alert on anomalous local sensitive file reads and unexpected outbound network connections initiated by the application process. These controls limit blast radius and contain exploitation, but they do not fix the underlying XML external entity injection flaw — apply the upstream patch to fully remediate.
Highest-impact CME: CME-1317 XML External Entity Prevention (Secure XML Parser Configuration) (high)
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | None | N/A | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Application Data; Read Files or Directories
If the attacker is able to include a crafted DTD and a default entity resolver is enabled, the attacker may be able to access arbitrary files on the system. By submitting an XML file that defines an external entity with a file:// URI, an attacker can cause the processing application to read the contents of a local file. For example, a URI such as "file:///c:/winnt/win.ini" designates (in Windows) the file C:\Winnt\win.ini, or file:///etc/passwd designates the password file in Unix-based systems. Once the content of the URI is read, it is fed back into the application that is processing the XML. This application may echo back the data (e.g., in an error message), thereby exposing the file contents.
Integrity
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
An attacker may supply a crafted DTD using URIs with schemes such as http://, forcing the application to make outgoing HTTP requests to servers that the attacker cannot reach directly, which can be used to bypass firewall restrictions; hide the source of attacks such as port scanning; or otherwise leverage the server's trust relationship with other entities.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
The product could consume excessive CPU cycles or memory using a URI that points to a large file, or a device that always returns data such as /dev/random. Alternately, the URI could reference a file that contains many nested or recursive entity references to further slow down parsing.
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