Spring for Apache Kafka 4.0.5 JDK deserialisation via header mapping
CVE-2026-41731 Published on June 9, 2026

In Spring for Apache Kafka, overly broad trusted-package matching in header mappers exposes JDK classes to deserialization
JsonKafkaHeaderMapper and the deprecated DefaultKafkaHeaderMapper matched type headers against trusted packages using a prefix check, meaning that trusting any package implicitly trusted all of its subpackages. Combined with Jackson's default bean deserialization, a producer could supply crafted header values that caused the consumer to deserialize arbitrary JDK types. Affected versions: Spring for Apache Kafka 4.0.0 through 4.0.5; 3.3.0 through 3.3.15; 3.2.0 through 3.2.13; 2.9.0 through 2.9.13; 2.8.0 through 2.8.11.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-41731 can be exploited with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
NETWORK
Attack Complexity:
HIGH
Privileges Required:
NONE
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

What is a Marshaling, Unmarshaling Vulnerability?

The application deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.

CVE-2026-41731 has been classified to as a Marshaling, Unmarshaling vulnerability or weakness.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-41731

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VMware Spring Framework
 

Affected Versions

Spring for Apache Kafka: