---
id: CVE-2026-41731
aliases:
  - GHSA-xq69-5h5v-x9x4
title: >-
  In Spring for Apache Kafka, overly broad trusted-package matching in header
  mappers exposes JDK classes to deserialization
summary: >-
  In Spring for Apache Kafka, overly broad trusted-package matching in header
  mappers exposes JDK classes to deserialization
severity: high
cvss: 8.1
cwe:
  - CWE-502
vendor: springframework
product: 'org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka'
ecosystem: maven
affected:
  - 'org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka >= 4.0.0, <= 4.0.5'
  - 'org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka >= 3.3.0, <= 3.3.15'
  - 'org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka >= 3.2.0, <= 3.2.13'
  - 'org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka >= 2.9.0, <= 2.9.13'
  - 'org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka <= 2.8.11'
patched:
  - 'org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka 4.0.6'
  - 'org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka 3.3.16'
published: '2026-06-10'
updated: '2026-06-12'
source: GHSA
sourceUrl: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-xq69-5h5v-x9x4'
references:
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-41731'
  - url: 'https://spring.io/security/cve-2026-41731'
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-xq69-5h5v-x9x4'
tags:
  - ghsa
  - maven
epss: 0.00646
epssPercentile: 0.48709
ingestedAt: '2026-07-07T15:41:59.587Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Affected packages

- `org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka >= 4.0.0, <= 4.0.5`
- `org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka >= 3.3.0, <= 3.3.15`
- `org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka >= 3.2.0, <= 3.2.13`
- `org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka >= 2.9.0, <= 2.9.13`
- `org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka <= 2.8.11`

## Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

- `org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka 4.0.6`
- `org.springframework.kafka:spring-kafka 3.3.16`