CVE-2026-46592: Apache Camel: Camel-CXF: The SOAP operation-selection headers used non-Camel-prefixed names (operationName, operationNamespace) that bypass the HTTP header filter, allowing an HTTP client to redirect the invoked SOAP operation

[Andrea Cosentino <acosentino () apache org>]

Severity: moderate 

Affected versions:

- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-cxf-soap) 4.0.0 before 4.14.8
- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-cxf-soap) 4.15.0 before 4.18.3
- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-cxf-soap) 4.19.0 before 4.21.0

Description:

Improper Input Validation, Unintended Proxy or Intermediary ('Confused Deputy') vulnerability in Apache Camel CXF SOAP 
component.

The camel-cxf producer selects which SOAP operation to invoke on the backend service from the operationName (and 
operationNamespace) Exchange header, whose constant values (CxfConstants.OPERATION_NAME / OPERATION_NAMESPACE) were the 
plain strings operationName / operationNamespace. 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 bridges an HTTP consumer (for example platform-http) 
into a cxf: producer, any HTTP client could therefore set the operationName header and have CxfProducer resolve and 
invoke a different WSDL operation than the route intended - for example replacing a read operation with a destructive 
one - against the backend SOAP service (a confused-deputy redirection). The constant is defined in the shared 
camel-cxf-common module, so the same non-prefixed names also applied to camel-cxfrs. No credentials are required when 
the bridging 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, the operation-selection headers are named CamelCxfOperationName / 
CamelCxfOperationNamespace and are filtered at transport boundaries; see the 4.21 upgrade guide for the cross-transport 
carrier-header pattern. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, do not select the CXF operation from untrusted 
input: strip the operationName and operationNamespace headers from any untrusted ingress before the cxf: producer and 
set the operation from a trusted source in the route.

Credit:

Yu Bao from Paypal (finder)
Andrea Cosentino (remediation developer)

References:

https://camel.apache.org/security/CVE-2026-46592.html
https://camel.apache.org/
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46592