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NeethiApplication · Apache

CVE-2026-42404

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.2.2 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Apache Neethi does not impose any restrictions on URIs when manually fetching remote policy references through the PolicyReference API. When an application explicitly calls the API to retrieve a policy from a remote URI, an outbound request is made for arbitrary protocols and internal IP adddresses. From 3.2.2, only http or https URIs are allowed, and link-local/multicast/any-local addresses are forbidden. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.2, which fixes this issue.

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

Apache Neethi's PolicyReference API lacks URI restrictions when fetching remote policy references, enabling Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks. The vulnerability allows outbound requests to arbitrary protocols (file://, ftp://, etc.) and access to internal IP addresses including private networks. Version 3.2.2 introduces protocol restrictions to http/https only and blocks link-local, multicast, and any-local addresses.

MitigationUpgrade to Apache Neethi version 3.2.2 or later, which enforces http/https protocol restrictions and blocks access to link-local, multicast, and private IP addresses.

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
NeethiApplication
Affected:< 3.2.2

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
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

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 Apache Neethi installation
    Search for neethi JAR files in the application's lib directories, dependencies (Maven pom.xml, Gradle build files), or classpath. Look for files named neethi-*.jar or org.apache.neethi.* packages in deployed code.
    Affected if Apache Neethi library is present in the environment
  2. Determine Apache Neethi version
    Check the version from the JAR file name (e.g., neethi-3.2.1.jar), MANIFEST.MF inside the JAR, or the dependency declaration in build configuration files.
    Affected if The version is lower than 3.2.2 (e.g., 3.2.1, 3.2.0, 3.1.x, etc.)
  3. Identify PolicyReference API usage
    Search codebase for imports of org.apache.neethi.PolicyReference or usage of PolicyBuilder.getPolicy(String) method that accepts a URI string. Review code that processes WS-Policy files referencing external policies.
    Affected if The application uses PolicyReference to fetch remote policy files from user-controlled or external URIs
  4. Verify remote policy fetching is enabled
    Review application configuration and runtime behavior to confirm that PolicyReference objects are being created with URIs pointing to remote locations (http://, https://, file://, ftp://, etc.) rather than only local resources.
    Affected if Remote policy references are processed at runtime and the URI is not restricted to local-only sources

The environment is affected if Apache Neethi version below 3.2.2 is present AND the PolicyReference API is used to fetch remote policy files from external URIs.

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 3.2.2 or later
Fixed in 3.2.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Apache Neethi version 3.2.2 or later, which enforces http/https protocol restrictions and blocks access to link-local, multicast, and private IP addresses.

Recommended fix High confidence

3.2.2

  1. Identify the current Apache Neethi version in use by checking project dependencies (e.g., Maven pom.xml, Gradle build file, or JAR manifest)
  2. Update the dependency version to 3.2.2. For Maven, change the version in pom.xml to: org.apache.neethi:neethi:3.2.2
  3. Re-run build to fetch the updated artifact and verify successful compilation
  4. Run existing test suites to ensure no regressions with the new version
  5. Redeploy the application with the updated dependency

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

Fix this in Neethi Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get the upgrade done

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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-2026-42404 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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