Summary
Apache Camel: Camel Message Header Injection via Improper Filtering
Bypass/Injection vulnerability in Apache Camel components under particular conditions.
This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.9.0 through <= 4.10.1, from 4.8.0 through <= 4.8.4, from 3.10.0 through <= 3.22.3.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.10.2 for 4.10.x LTS, 4.8.5 for 4.8.x LTS and 3.22.4 for 3.x releases.
This vulnerability is present in Camel's default incoming header filter, that allows an attacker to include Camel specific headers that for some Camel components can alter the behaviours such as the camel-bean component, to call another method on the bean, than was coded in the application. In the camel-jms component, then a malicious header can be used to send the message to another queue (on the same broker) than was coded in the application. This could also be seen by using the camel-exec component.
The attacker would need to inject custom headers, such as HTTP protocols. So if you have Camel applications that are directly connected to the internet via HTTP, then an attacker could include malicious HTTP headers in the HTTP requests that are send to the Camel application.
All the known Camel HTTP component such as camel-servlet, camel-jetty, camel-undertow, camel-platform-http, and camel-netty-http would be vulnerable out of the box.
In these conditions an attacker could be able to forge a Camel header name and make the bean component invoking other methods in the same bean.
In terms of usage of the default header filter strategy the list of components using that is:
- camel-activemq
- camel-activemq6
- camel-amqp
- camel-aws2-sqs
- camel-azure-servicebus
- camel-cxf-rest
- camel-cxf-soap
- camel-http
- camel-jetty
- camel-jms
- camel-kafka
- camel-knative
- camel-mail
- camel-nats
- camel-netty-http
- camel-platform-http
- camel-rest
- camel-sjms
- camel-spring-rabbitmq
- camel-stomp
- camel-tahu
- camel-undertow
- camel-xmpp
The vulnerability arises due to a bug in the default filtering mechanism that only blocks headers starting with "Camel", "camel", or "org.apache.camel.".
Mitigation: You can easily work around this in your Camel applications by removing the headers in your Camel routes. There are many ways of doing this, also globally or per route. This means you could use the removeHeaders EIP, to filter out anything like "cAmel, cAMEL" etc, or in general everything not starting with "Camel", "camel" or "org.apache.camel.".
Impact
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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org.apache.camel:camel-support to 3.22.4 or later; org.apache.camel:camel-support to 4.10.2 or later; org.apache.camel:camel-support to 4.8.5 or later
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-27636? CVE-2025-27636 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in org.apache.camel:camel-support (maven), affecting versions >= 3.10.0, < 3.22.4. It is fixed in 3.22.4, 4.10.2, 4.8.5.
- Which versions of org.apache.camel:camel-support are affected by CVE-2025-27636? org.apache.camel:camel-support (maven) versions >= 3.10.0, < 3.22.4 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-27636? Yes. CVE-2025-27636 is fixed in 3.22.4, 4.10.2, 4.8.5. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2025-27636 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-27636 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2025-27636 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2025-27636?
- Upgrade
org.apache.camel:camel-supportto 3.22.4 or later - Upgrade
org.apache.camel:camel-supportto 4.10.2 or later - Upgrade
org.apache.camel:camel-supportto 4.8.5 or later
- Upgrade