Executive brief
Apache Camel is a popular integration framework used to connect different software applications. A vulnerability in its CoAP component allows an unauthenticated attacker to execute malicious commands on the server by sending a single specially crafted network packet. This could lead to a full system takeover, unauthorized data access, or service disruption.
Technical details
The camel-coap component in Apache Camel fails to apply a HeaderFilterStrategy when processing incoming CoAP requests. Specifically, CamelCoapResource.handleRequest() maps URI query parameters directly to Camel Exchange headers. An unauthenticated attacker can send a single CoAP UDP packet to inject internal headers (prefixed with 'Camel*'). When these headers are forwarded to sensitive producers like camel-exec, they can override configuration parameters to execute arbitrary OS commands. The vulnerability provides an interactive RCE channel as the command output is returned in the CoAP response. Fixed in versions 4.14.6, 4.18.1, and 4.19.0.
Affected products
- Apache Camel 4.14.0 to 4.14.5, 4.15.0 to 4.18.0, 4.19.0
Timeline
- 2026-04-26: disclosed: Initial disclosure on oss-security mailing list
- 2026-04-27: advisory: Official Apache Camel security advisory published
References
- https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2
- https://camel.apache.org/security/CVE-2026-33453.html
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/26/3
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17668
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-33453
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2463184
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-33453.json