CVE-2017-5656 — cxf-core
HIGHCVE-2017-5656 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-384 vulnerability in org.apache.cxf:cxf-core. A fix is available for org.apache.cxf:cxf-core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Session Fixation in Apache CXF
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2017-5656 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,238 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.cxf:cxf-core☕org.apache.cxf:cxf-coreReal-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
Apache CXF's STSClient before 3.1.11 and 3.0.13 uses a flawed way of caching tokens that are associated with delegation tokens, which means that an attacker could craft a token which would return an identifer corresponding to a cached token for another user.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.cxf:cxf-core | ≥ 3.1.0&&< 3.1.11 | 3.1.11org.apache.cxf:cxf-core:3.1.11 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.cxf:cxf-core | all versions | 3.0.13org.apache.cxf:cxf-core:3.0.13 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.cxf:cxf-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.cxf:cxf-core to 3.1.11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-5656 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2017-5656 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2017-5656. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6.3 | cxf | RHSA-2017:1832 |
| Red Hat Openshift Application Runtimes | see advisory | RHSA-2018:1694 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2017-5656 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2017-5656 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.