XML external entity resolution in Apache Camel XQuery evaluation
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-611 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
Apache Camel from 4.0.0 before 4.18.5 and from 4.19.0 before 4.22.2 is affected. The XQuery builder in the Camel Saxon component parses a message body that is already a javax.xml.transform.Source with Saxon's default parser settings, which resolve external entities declared in the body (CWE-611). A remote, unauthenticated sender whose XML reaches an XQuery expression can read files readable by the Camel process.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-28
Description from the CNA
Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference vulnerability in Apache Camel Saxon component. This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.0.0 before 4.18.5, from 4.19.0 before 4.22.2. XQueryBuilder in camel-saxon, which evaluates expressions for the xquery language and the xquery component, built its default Saxon Configuration with parse options that set only a whitespace stripping rule, leaving the XML parser at its defaults, under which a DOCTYPE declaration is accepted and external entities are resolved. A message body of type String or byte[], or any body read as an InputStream, is first turned into a javax.xml.transform.Source by Camel's own XML type converters, which configure the parser against external entities, so those bodies were not affected. A body that was already a Source, however, was handed to Saxon unchanged, and when that Source still had to be parsed, as a stream-based Source does, Saxon parsed it with that Configuration, bypassing the protection applied to the other body types. Such a body arises, for example, after a route converts the message with convertBodyTo(Source.class), or when a component or processor earlier in the route sets the body to a stream-based Source. A DOCTYPE with an external subset, or an external entity, declared in that body was therefore resolved and expanded into the document the expression was evaluated against. An external sender whose XML reaches an XQuery expression or an xquery endpoint in that form could read files readable by the Camel process and cause the process to issue requests to hosts the document names. No non-default option is required, since the default Configuration is used whenever the route does not supply one of its own. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.23.0, which fixes the issue. If users are on the 4.22.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.22.2. If users are on the 4.18.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.18.5. The 4.14.x releases stream and earlier, as well as the 4.15.x to 4.17.x and 4.19.x to 4.21.x release lines, reached end of life before this issue was resolved and will not receive a fix, so deployments on them must move to a supported release. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, do not evaluate XQuery over a message body that is already a javax.xml.transform.Source when that body carries XML from an untrusted sender, or set the configuration option of the xquery endpoint or language to a Saxon Configuration whose parse options refuse a DOCTYPE declaration and disable external entities and external DTD loading, which is what the fixed releases now apply by default.
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
Remediation
Upgrade Apache Camel to 4.23.0, to 4.22.2 on the 4.22.x stream, or to 4.18.5 on the 4.18.x stream. Red Hat lists no available plan for Red Hat Fuse 7, Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4 for Quarkus 3 or Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4, so the sources list no fixed version for these products.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-28
- Fix · CNA Apache Camel (Apache Software Foundation) Fixed in 4.18.5, 4.22.2
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
Apache Camel 4.18.5, 4.22.2
6 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 1 MEDIUM, 5 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-80294 Apache Camel CoAP consumer leaks internal details in error responsesPriority LOW 31
- TI-2026-80292 Apache Camel Keycloak policy accepts expired tokens from cachePriority LOW 30
- TI-2026-80293 Expression language injection in Apache Camel AWS2 S3 producerPriority LOW 26
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Fuse 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4 for Quarkus 3 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4 | Affected | No fix yet |
Timeline
- 2026-10-26 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-90885
- 2026-10-26 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-26 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
- 2026-10-27 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-27 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-27 Alias added: GHSA-xv62-j8hg-7h33
- 2026-10-27 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
References
Patch 3
More Apache vulnerabilities
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Sources
- CVE-2026-90885 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-90885 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-xv62-j8hg-7h33 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-90885 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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