CVE-2026-40453

CRITICAL LAB

Apache Camel HeaderFilterStrategy - Case-Variant Internal Header Injection

Title source: manual
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2026-40453. PoCs published by oscerd.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This repository provides a functional proof-of-concept for CVE-2026-40453, demonstrating a case-variant header injection bypass in Apache Camel's CoAP component. The exploit leverages a case-sensitive filtering flaw to inject malicious CamelExecCommand* headers, achieving remote code execution (RCE).

Description

The fix for CVE-2025-27636 added setLowerCase(true) to HttpHeaderFilterStrategy so that case-variant header names such as 'CAmelExecCommandExecutable' are filtered out alongside 'CamelExecCommandExecutable'. The same setLowerCase(true) call was not applied to five non-HTTP HeaderFilterStrategy implementations: JmsHeaderFilterStrategy and ClassicJmsHeaderFilterStrategy in camel-jms, SjmsHeaderFilterStrategy in camel-sjms, CoAPHeaderFilterStrategy in camel-coap, and GooglePubsubHeaderFilterStrategy in camel-google-pubsub. Because those strategies use case-sensitive String.startsWith('Camel'/'camel') filtering while the Camel Exchange stores headers in a case-insensitive map, an attacker with JMS (or equivalent) producer access to the broker consumed by a Camel route can inject case-variant Camel internal headers, which are then resolved by downstream components such as camel-exec and camel-file using their canonical casing. This enables remote code execution and arbitrary file write on routes that forward JMS messages to header-driven components. This issue affects Apache Camel: from 3.0.0 before 4.14.6, from 4.15.0 before 4.18.2, from 4.19.0 before 4.20.0. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.20.0, which fixes the issue. If users are on the 4.14.x LTS releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.14.6. If users are on the 4.18.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.18.2.

Exploits (1)

nomisec WORKING POC
by oscerd · poc
https://github.com/oscerd/CVE-2026-40453

This repository provides a functional proof-of-concept for CVE-2026-40453, demonstrating a case-variant header injection bypass in Apache Camel's CoAP component. The exploit leverages a case-sensitive filtering flaw to inject malicious CamelExecCommand* headers, achieving remote code execution (RCE).

Classification
Working Poc 99%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Apache Camel (versions before 4.14.6, 4.18.2, or 4.20.0) with camel-coap and camel-exec components
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Target must have camel-coap and camel-exec components enabled · CoAP endpoint must be exposed and accessible to the attacker · Vulnerable version of Apache Camel (4.18.1 or earlier, as specified in the PoC)
mistral-large-3 · analyzed Jul 09, 2026 Full analysis →

Scores

CVSS v3 9.9
EPSS 0.0122
EPSS Percentile 65.6%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Lab Environment

COMMUNITY
Community Lab
docker pull eclipse-temurin:21-jre

Details

CWE
CWE-178
Status published
Products (23)
apache/camel 4.19.0
apache/camel 3.0.0 - 4.14.6
Apache Software Foundation/Apache Camel CoAP 3.0.0 - 4.14.6
Apache Software Foundation/Apache Camel CoAP 4.15.0 - 4.18.2
Apache Software Foundation/Apache Camel CoAP 4.19.0 - 4.20.0
Apache Software Foundation/Apache Camel Google PubSub 3.0.0 - 4.14.6
Apache Software Foundation/Apache Camel Google PubSub 4.15.0 - 4.18.2
Apache Software Foundation/Apache Camel Google PubSub 4.19.0 - 4.20.0
Apache Software Foundation/Apache Camel JMS 3.0.0 - 4.14.6
Apache Software Foundation/Apache Camel JMS 4.15.0 - 4.18.2
... and 13 more
Published Apr 27, 2026
Tracked Since Apr 27, 2026