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Spring BootFramework / library · VMware

CVE-2026-40974

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.7.33 / 3.3.19 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Spring Boot's Cassandra auto-configuration does not perform hostname verification when establishing an SSL connection to Cassandra. Affected: Spring Boot 4.0.0–4.0.5 (fix 4.0.6), 3.5.0–3.5.13 (fix 3.5.14), 3.4.0–3.4.15 (fix 3.4.16), 3.3.0–3.3.18 (fix 3.3.19), 2.7.0–2.7.32 (fix 2.7.33); Cassandra SSL auto-configuration. Versions that are no longer supported are also affected per vendor advisory.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Spring Boot's Cassandra auto-configuration skips hostname verification during SSL/TLS handshakes, allowing attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting fraudulent certificates. This occurs because the auto-configured CqlSessionBuilder does not enable hostname verification, even when SSL is explicitly configured.

MitigationUpgrade Spring Boot to the fixed version (4.0.6, 3.5.14, 3.4.16, 3.3.19, or 2.7.33) or explicitly configure hostname verification in the Cassandra SSL configuration if upgrade is not immediately feasible.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Spring BootFramework / library
Affected:>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.33>= 3.3.0, < 3.3.19>= 3.4.0, < 3.4.16>= 3.5.0, < 3.5.14>= 4.0.0, < 4.0.6

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Spring Boot version
    Inspect your project's pom.xml (look for <spring-boot.version> or parent pom) or build.gradle (springBootVersion variable). Also check the spring-boot-dependencies pom if used as a BOM.
    Affected if The version falls outside these safe ranges: 2.7.33+, 3.3.19+, 3.4.16+, 3.5.14+, or 4.0.6+.
  2. Confirm Cassandra with SSL is in use
    Check application.properties or application.yml for spring.data.cassandra.ssl=true, or inspect any @EnableCassandraRepositories configuration with SSL settings.
    Affected if Cassandra SSL is enabled (spring.data.cassandra.ssl is true or a custom CqlSessionBuilderCustomizer enables SSL).
  3. Inspect SSL hostname verification setting
    Look in application.properties/yml for any hostname verification property under the Cassandra SSL configuration (commonly spring.data.cassandra.ssl-config.hostname-verify or similar driver setting), or in any custom CqlSessionConfigurer bean that configures the SSL options.
    Affected if No explicit hostname verification is configured, OR it is explicitly set to disabled/false (leaving the default vulnerable behavior).

You are affected if your Spring Boot version is vulnerable AND you use Cassandra with SSL enabled AND hostname verification is not explicitly configured to enabled.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.7.33 / 3.3.19 / 3.4.16 or later
Fixed in 2.7.333.3.193.4.16
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Spring Boot to the fixed version (4.0.6, 3.5.14, 3.4.16, 3.3.19, or 2.7.33) or explicitly configure hostname verification in the Cassandra SSL configuration if upgrade is not immediately feasible.

Recommended fix High confidence

Spring Boot 2.7.33, 3.3.19, 3.4.16, 3.5.14, or 4.0.6 (depending on your current major version)

  1. 1. Identify the current Spring Boot version in use by checking pom.xml or build.gradle for the spring-boot-starter-parent or spring-boot.version property.
  2. 2. If using Spring Boot 2.7.x, upgrade to version 2.7.33 or later.
  3. 3. If using Spring Boot 3.3.x, upgrade to version 3.3.19 or later.
  4. 4. If using Spring Boot 3.4.x, upgrade to version 3.4.16 or later.
  5. 5. If using Spring Boot 3.5.x, upgrade to version 3.5.14 or later.
  6. 6. If using Spring Boot 4.0.x, upgrade to version 4.0.6 or later.
  7. 7. Rebuild and redeploy the application.
  8. 8. Verify that SSL connections to Cassandra are working correctly with hostname verification enabled.
Caveat Upgrading Spring Boot major versions (e.g., 2.x to 3.x) may require code changes due to Jakarta EE namespace changes and removed deprecated APIs; review the Spring Boot migration guide

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Spring Boot Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-40974 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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