How severe is CVE-2026-89238?

CVE-2026-89238 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.1, rated critical severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability none.

Is CVE-2026-89238 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (11th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2026-89238?

CVE-2026-89238 affects Apache Wss4j. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2026-89238?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its critical severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2026-89238 published?

CVE-2026-89238 was published on 2026-09-30 and last updated on 2026-10-06.

CVE-2026-89238

CVE-2026-89238 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Apache Wss4j with a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.1. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-345.

Key facts

Severity: Critical (CVSS 3.x base score 9.1)
EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (11th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-345
Affected product: Apache Wss4j
Published: 2026-09-30
Last modified: 2026-10-06

Description

WSS4J EncryptedHeader child confusion could promote an attacker-controlled plaintext element as the decrypted header, leading to incorrect confidentiality coverage and possible policy bypass. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.0.2 or 3.0.6 or 2.4.4, which fix this issue.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-89238?: WSS4J EncryptedHeader child confusion could promote an attacker-controlled plaintext element as the decrypted header, leading to incorrect confidentiality coverage and possible policy bypass. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.0.2 or 3.0.6 or 2.4.4, which fix this issue.
How severe is CVE-2026-89238?: CVE-2026-89238 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 9.1, rated critical severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability none.
Is CVE-2026-89238 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (11th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2026-89238?: CVE-2026-89238 affects Apache Wss4j. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2026-89238?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its critical severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2026-89238 published?: CVE-2026-89238 was published on 2026-09-30 and last updated on 2026-10-06.

References

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:apache:wss4j:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Apache Wss4j

CVE-2026-88920 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An authentication bypass in the DOM security processor in Apache WSS4J allows unauthenticated remote attackers to forge…
CVE-2026-87830 — Critical (CVSS 9.1): In the StAX streaming WS-SecurityPolicy validator, certain relative or unsupported XPath expressions can be converted…
CVE-2020-13936 — High (CVSS 8.8): An attacker that is able to modify Velocity templates may execute arbitrary Java code or run arbitrary system commands…
CVE-2026-95616 — High (CVSS 7.5): An integer overflow in WSS4J's DER bounds check lets an oversized allocation pass validation. An unauthenticated…
CVE-2026-92121 — High (CVSS 7.5): In the WSS4J streaming (StAX) code, a signature reference using the WS-Security STR-Transform leaves an internal…
CVE-2026-85532 — High (CVSS 7.5): Apache WSS4J accepted attacker-controlled derived-key lengths and offsets without adequate bounds. This could permit…

All CVEs affecting Apache Wss4j →

Other CWE-345 (Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity) vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-62874 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Insufficient verification of data authenticity in Azure Billing allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges…
CVE-2026-35051 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Traefik is an HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer. Prior to versions 2.11.43, 3.6.14, and 3.7.0-rc.2, there is an…
CVE-2014-8165 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): scripts/amsvis/powerpcAMS/amsnet.py in powerpc-utils-python uses the pickle Python module unsafely, which allows remote…
CVE-2026-50195 — Critical (CVSS 9.9): containerd is an open-source container runtime. Versions prior to 2.3.2, 2.2.5 and 2.1.9 contain a vulnerability in the…
CVE-2022-36130 — Critical (CVSS 9.9): HashiCorp Boundary up to 0.10.1 did not properly perform data integrity checks to ensure the resources were associated…
CVE-2026-104056 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Authlib version 1.7.2 and below contains a vulnerability where discovery JSON metadata is cached without validation or…

Browse all CWE-345 (Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity) vulnerabilities →