NIST deprecates RSA-2048 from 2030. Find every one of them before attackers do.
☕ Maven
Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2012-6153 — httpclient

Fix: apache/httpcomponents-client@6e14fc1

CVE-2012-6153 is a Improper Input Validation vulnerability in org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient. A fix is available for org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Improper certificate validation in org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient

Also known asGHSA-2x83-r56g-cv47
Published
Updated
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Oct 31, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
5.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk+0.03%
Lower risk than most CVEs93th percentile — riskier than 93% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.00%2.41%4.82%7.22%1.2%5.8%May 26Aug 26Oct 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
☕org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

http/conn/ssl/AbstractVerifier.java in Apache Commons HttpClient before 4.2.3 does not properly verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject's Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName field of the X.509 certificate, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers via a certificate with a subject that specifies a common name in a field that is not the CN field. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2012-5783.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
☕Mavenorg.apache.httpcomponents:httpclientall versions4.2.3org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.2.3

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations
Application
commons-httpclientapache
≥ 4.0 && ≤ 4.2.2
range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency
  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient to 4.2.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-6153 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Red HatImportant

Additional information can be found in the Red Hat Knowledgebase article: https://access.redhat.com/solutions/1165533 This issue affects the versions of HttpComponents Client and ModeShape Client as shipped with Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6. However, this flaw is not known to be exploitable under any supported…

ProductFixed inAdvisory
JBEWP 5 for RHEL 5jakarta-commons-httpclient-1:3.1-4_patch_02.ep5.el5RHSA-2014:1320
JBEWP 5 for RHEL 5apache-cxf-0:2.2.12-14.patch_09.ep5.el5RHSA-2014:1833
Red Hat Developer Toolset 2.1 for RHEL 6devtoolset-2-httpcomponents-client-0:4.2.1-6.el6RHSA-2014:1098
Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.0jakarta-commons-httpclientRHSA-2014:1892
Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.0httpclientRHSA-2015:0234
Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.0cxfRHSA-2015:0851
Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6.0jakarta-commons-httpclientRHSA-2014:1891
Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6.0httpclientRHSA-2015:0235

Frequently Asked Questions

http/conn/ssl/AbstractVerifier.java in Apache Commons HttpClient before 4.2.3 does not properly verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject's Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName field of the X.509 certificate, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers via a certificate with a subject that specifies a common name in a field that is not the CN field. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2012-5783.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2012-6153 in your dependencies?

Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.

CVE-2012-6153: httpclient — Fixed in 4.2.3