Severity: moderate
Affected versions:
- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-elasticsearch-rest-client) 4.3.0 before
4.14.8
- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-elasticsearch-rest-client) 4.15.0 before
4.18.3
- Apache Camel (org.apache.camel:camel-elasticsearch-rest-client) 4.19.0 before
4.21.0
Description:
Improper Input Validation, Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
vulnerability in Apache Camel ElasticSearch Rest Client.
The camel-elasticsearch-rest-client component reads several Exchange headers to
control its behaviour - SEARCH_QUERY (an advanced query body), OPERATION (which
Elasticsearch operation to run), INDEX_NAME, INDEX_SETTINGS and ID. The string
values of these header constants, defined in ElasticSearchRestClientConstant,
are plain unprefixed names ('SEARCH_QUERY', 'OPERATION', 'INDEX_NAME',
'INDEX_SETTINGS', 'ID') rather than the 'Camel'-prefixed names used by every
other Camel component (for example CamelSqlQuery, CamelMongoDbCriteria,
CamelCqlQuery). Camel's inbound HTTP header filter, HttpHeaderFilterStrategy,
blocks only header names that begin with 'Camel' or 'camel'. Because the
Elasticsearch header names do not carry that prefix, they pass through the
inbound filter unchanged. When a Camel route exposes an HTTP entry point (for
example platform-http) in front of an elasticsearch-rest-client producer, an
untrusted HTTP client can set these headers directly on its request and
override the query and operation that the route author configured: reading
every document in the index (SEARCH_QUERY with a match_all query), deleting
documents (OPERATION set to Delete together with ID), or exfiltrating selected
fields. No credentials are required and the producer reads the headers
unconditionally.
This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.3.0 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. The fix renames the camel-elasticsearch-rest-client
Exchange header constant string values (ID, SEARCH_QUERY, INDEX_SETTINGS,
INDEX_NAME, OPERATION) to carry the Camel prefix (CamelElasticsearchId,
CamelElasticsearchSearchQuery, CamelElasticsearchIndexSettings,
CamelElasticsearchIndexName, CamelElasticsearchOperation) so that they are
blocked by the inbound HttpHeaderFilterStrategy; the Java field names are
unchanged. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, strip the affected
headers from untrusted inbound messages before they reach the producer (for
example removeHeader('SEARCH_QUERY'), removeHeader('OPERATION'),
removeHeader('INDEX_NAME'), removeHeader('INDEX_SETTINGS') and
removeHeader('ID') in front of the elasticsearch-rest-client endpoint), or
apply a custom HeaderFilterStrategy that blocks these names.
Credit:
Yu Bao from Paypal (finder)
References:
https://camel.apache.org/security/CVE-2026-46453.html
https://camel.apache.org/
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46453
