Severity: moderate
Affected versions:
- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-kafka) 4.0.0 before 4.14.8
- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-kafka) 4.15.0 before 4.18.3
- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-kafka) 4.19.0 before 4.21.0
Description:
Improper Input Validation, Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in
Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection') vulnerability in Apache
Camel Kafka Component.
The camel-kafka producer can override its configured target topic at runtime
from the kafka.OVERRIDE_TOPIC Exchange header: KafkaProducer.evaluateTopic()
returns the header value in preference to the topic configured on the endpoint.
The control-header constants in KafkaConstants (for example OVERRIDE_TOPIC =
kafka.OVERRIDE_TOPIC, OVERRIDE_TIMESTAMP = kafka.OVERRIDE_TIMESTAMP,
PARTITION_KEY = kafka.PARTITION_KEY) used plain, non-Camel-prefixed values.
camel-kafka's own KafkaHeaderFilterStrategy does filter the kafka.* namespace,
but only on the Kafka-to-Exchange serialization boundary (reading Kafka record
headers into the Exchange, and writing Exchange headers into a Kafka record);
it does not apply to headers that arrive from an upstream consumer in a
multi-component route. The upstream HTTP consumer uses
HttpHeaderFilterStrategy, which blocks only the Camel / camel namespace, so a
kafka.* header passes through unfiltered. As a result, in a route that bridges
an HTTP consumer (for example platform-http) into a kafka: producer, any HTTP
client could set the kafka.OVERRIDE_TOPIC header and cause the message to be
published to an arbitrary Kafka topic instead of the configured one -
redirecting it to a sensitive internal topic, or injecting attacker-crafted
messages into a topic consumed by a critical downstream service. The related
kafka.OVERRIDE_TIMESTAMP and kafka.PARTITION_KEY headers could likewise be
injected to backdate messages or target specific partitions. 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, routes that set or read Kafka headers
via the raw header names must use the CamelKafka* names (for example
CamelKafkaOverrideTopic and CamelKafkaTopic) instead of the old kafka.* values.
For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, strip the kafka.* headers from
any untrusted ingress before the kafka: producer (for example
removeHeaders('kafka.*') at the start of the route), and set the target topic
from a trusted source.
Credit:
Yu Bao from PayPal (finder)
Andrea Cosentino (remediation developer)
References:
https://camel.apache.org/security/CVE-2026-49098.html
https://camel.apache.org/
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-49098
