Improper input validation in Apache Camel Lucene
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-639.
Summary
Improper Input Validation, Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Apache Camel Lucene Component. The camel-lucene producer reads the search phrase from an Exchange header (LuceneConstants.HEADER_QUERY) whose value was the plain string QUERY (and RETURN_LUCENE_DOCS for HEADER_RETURN_LUCENE_DOCS). Because these names do not start with the Camel / camel prefix, HttpHeaderFilterStrategy - which blocks only the Camel header namespace on the HTTP boundary - let them pass from an inbound HTTP request straight into the Exchange. In a route that exposes a Lucene query operation behind an HTTP consumer (for example platform-http), any HTTP client could therefore set the QUERY header and have its value executed against the full-text index, overriding the query the route intended to run. Depending on what is indexed, this allows reading documents the request should not have access to (for example a match-all query returns the entire index, or the route's intended per-user filter can be replaced), and expensive regular-expression queries can consume significant CPU. No credentials are required when the HTTP consumer is unauthenticated. This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.0.0 before 4.14.8, from 4.15.0 before 4.18.3, from 4.19.0 before 4.21.0. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.21.0, which fixes the issue. If users are on the 4.14.x LTS releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.14.8. If users are on the 4.18.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.18.3. After upgrading, routes that set the query via the raw header name must use CamelLuceneQuery (and CamelLuceneReturnLuceneDocs) instead of QUERY / RETURN_LUCENE_DOCS. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, strip the attacker-controllable headers before the Lucene producer and set the query from a trusted source (for example removeHeader('QUERY') and removeHeader('RETURN_LUCENE_DOCS'), then setHeader('QUERY', constant(...)) at the start of the route).
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache | Apache Camel Lucene | 4.0.0 to before 4.14.8; 4.15.0 to before 4.18.3; 4.19.0 to before 4.21.0 | 4.14.8, 4.18.3, 4.21.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) | 4.0.0 to before 4.14.8 | 4.14.8 | Patch available | GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3 |
| — | org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) | 4.15.0 to before 4.18.3 | 4.18.3 | Patch available | GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3 |
| — | org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) | 4.19.0 to before 4.21.0 | 4.21.0 | Patch available | GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3 |
- Apache Camel Lucene VendorApache Affected 4.0.0 to before 4.14.8; 4.15.0 to before 4.18.3; 4.19.0 to before 4.21.0 Fixed in 4.14.8, 4.18.3, 4.21.0 Patch available CNA
- org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) Vendor— Affected 4.0.0 to before 4.14.8 Fixed in 4.14.8 Patch available GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3
- org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) Vendor— Affected 4.15.0 to before 4.18.3 Fixed in 4.18.3 Patch available GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3
- org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) Vendor— Affected 4.19.0 to before 4.21.0 Fixed in 4.21.0 Patch available GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:apache:camel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 4.0.0 to before 4.14.8; 4.15.0 to before 4.18.3; 4.19.0 to before 4.21.0 | Vulnerable | Apache |
- cpe:2.3:a:apache:camel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 4.0.0 to before 4.14.8; 4.15.0 to before 4.18.3; 4.19.0 to before 4.21.0 Vulnerable ·Apache
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Apache Camel Lucene (Apache Software Foundation) Fixed in 4.14.8, 4.18.3, 4.21.0
- Fix · GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3 org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) Fixed in 4.14.8 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3 org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) Fixed in 4.18.3 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3 org.apache.camel:camel-lucene (Maven) Fixed in 4.21.0 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-46585
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3
- 2026-10-28 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile
References
Advisory 3
Other 11
- https://github.com/apache/camel/pull/23208
- https://github.com/apache/camel/pull/23220
- https://github.com/apache/camel/pull/23232
- https://github.com/apache/camel/commit/16a70d48145605c1a35e909d308bf9e5e2d3e7d8
- https://github.com/apache/camel/commit/349f197115d60e0c180cf9836e08f4aeb5a87872
- https://github.com/apache/camel/commit/878ea07996caff19ed227984bf6cb6cf01983422
- https://github.com/apache/camel
- https://github.com/apache/camel/releases/tag/camel-4.14.8
- https://github.com/apache/camel/releases/tag/camel-4.18.3
- https://github.com/apache/camel/releases/tag/camel-4.21.0
- https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CAMEL-23509
More Apache Camel vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-76322 Unsafe deserialization in Apache Camel camel-hazelcast CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2026-18973 Apache Camel: Camel-Keycloak: Cross-Realm Token Acceptance Bypass in KeycloakSecurityPolicy CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-76339 Path traversal in Apache Camel azure-files component CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-76330 Path traversal in Apache Camel FTP consumer escapes polled directory CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2025-20435 Apache Camel: Camel Message Header Injection via Improper Filtering CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.6
- TI-2026-34899 Apache Camel: Camel-CXF Message Header Injection via Missing Inbound Filtering CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-46585 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-46585 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-566h-v38h-3xp3 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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