CVE-2026-41731
HIGH 8.1JsonKafkaHeaderMapper and the deprecated DefaultKafkaHeaderMapper matched type headers against trusted packages using a prefix check, meaning that trusting any package implicitly trusted all of its subpackages. Combined with Jackson's default bean deserialization, a producer could supply crafted header values that caused the consumer to deserialize arbitrary JDK types. Affected versions: Spring for Apache Kafka 4.0.0 through 4.0.5; 3.3.0 through 3.3.15; 3.2.0 through 3.2.13; 2.9.0 through 2.9.13; 2.8.0 through 2.8.11.
Severe if exploited (CVSS 8.1), but no known exploitation and low modeled probability. Patch on a normal cadence.
Exploitation likelihood
0.5%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 38th percentile
Impact if exploited
8.1CVSS 3.1 · HIGH
- ConfidentialityHigh
- IntegrityHigh
- AvailabilityHigh
What an attacker needs
- ✓Access: Reachable over the network — no local access needed
- ✓Privileges: No account or privileges required
- ✓User interaction: No user interaction needed
- ⚠Complexity: Needs a race window or specific setup
✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it
Affected
Products Spring For Apache Kafka Red Hat Fuse 7 Red Hat Jboss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack
Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-502: Deserialization of untrusted data
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H