Bug 2548455 (CVE-2026-97791)

Summary: CVE-2026-97791 org.apache.cxf/cxf-rt-ws-security: Apache CXF: Authentication bypass via shared token validation state
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: high    
Version: unspecifiedCC: anujha, aschwart, asoldano, aszczucz, bbaranow, bmaxwell, boliveir, bstansbe, dlofthou, drichtar, fmariani, fmongiar, gmalinko, istudens, ivassile, iweiss, janstey, jnethert, jwon, mcarlett, mosmerov, mposolda, msvehla, nwallace, pberan, pdelbell, pesilva, pjindal, pmackay, rmartinc, rstancel, rstepani, ssilvert, sthorger, tcunning, thjenkin, vdosoudi, vmuzikar, yfang
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in Apache CXF. This vulnerability allows an authentication bypass when validating Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) tokens. Because the token validator shares validation state across concurrent requests, a remote, unauthenticated attacker can submit a forged assertion signed with an untrusted certificate while legitimate requests are processed, causing the forged assertion to be accepted as trusted.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-09 10:31:28 UTC
In Apache CXF, STSTokenValidator checks whether a SAML assertion is signed by a trusted certificate before deciding to send it to the STS. That result was stored in one object shared by all requests, so one request could read another's result. A remote, unauthenticated attacker could send a forged assertion signed with an untrusted certificate while legitimate requests were being processed, and it could be accepted as trusted without ever reaching the STS. Only services that use STSTokenValidator to validate SAML tokens without alwaysValidateToSts set are affected. 
Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.2.4 or 4.1.9 or 3.6.13, which fix this issue.