CVE-2026-108039: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-v2mw-x6g2-24jf
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-776
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-108039 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-776: Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion')) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product uses xml documents and allows their structure to be defined with a document type definition (dtd), but it does not properly control the number of recursive definitions of entities.. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2026-108039 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-108039
GHSA Identifier GHSA-v2mw-x6g2-24jf
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-776: Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion')
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-108039

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2026-108039, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-776: Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion'), where the product uses xml documents and allows their structure to be defined with a document type definition (dtd), but it does not properly control the number of recursive definitions of entities. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

By default, StaxUtils placed no limit on the total number of elements or the total number of characters in an XML document. A very large request could therefore use a lot of memory and CPU during parsing, especially where CXF builds a DOM from the input (for example SAAJ or WS-Security), and could cause a denial of service when no request size limit was configured. Both limits now have defaults: the maximum element count is 100 × maxChildElements (5,000,000 by default), and the maximum document size is 256M characters. Applications that process larger documents can raise the limits with the org.apache.cxf.stax.maxElementCount and org.apache.cxf.stax.maxXMLCharacters properties. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.2.4 or 4.1.9 or 3.6.13, which fix this issue.

References

NVD — CVE-2026-108039 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-108039
lists.apache.org/thread.html/ms2gbpo... WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ms2gbpof609o0v1bjlzb1rn7fwh61l1j
Software Security Information SECURITY
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/10/09/14

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-108039?
CVE-2026-108039 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-776: Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion').
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2026-108039?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-108039?
CVE-2026-108039 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-108039?
CVE-2026-108039 is classified under CWE-776: Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion') (The product uses XML documents and allows their structure to be defined with a Document Type Definition (DTD), but it does not properly control the number of recursive definitions of entities.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2026-108039?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-v2mw-x6g2-24jf",
  "modified" : "2026-10-15T18:31:43Z",
  "published" : "2026-10-09T12:31:43Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-108039" ],
  "details" : "By default, StaxUtils placed no limit on the total number of elements or the total number of characters in an XML document. A very large request could therefore use a lot of memory and CPU during parsing, especially where CXF builds a DOM from the input (for example SAAJ or WS-Security), and could cause a denial of service when no request size limit was configured. Both limits now have defaults: the maximum element count is 100 × maxChildElements (5,000,000 by default), and the maximum document size is 256M characters. Applications that process larger documents can raise the limits with the org.apache.cxf.stax.maxElementCount and org.apache.cxf.stax.maxXMLCharacters properties.\nUsers are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.2.4 or 4.1.9 or 3.6.13, which fix this issue.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-108039"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ms2gbpof609o0v1bjlzb1rn7fwh61l1j"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/10/09/14"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-776" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-10-09T11:17:02Z"
  }
}