GHSA-44cw-p2hm-gpf6 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.8) CWE-346 vulnerability in org.opencastproject:opencast-kernel. A fix is available for org.opencastproject:opencast-kernel — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Disabled Hostname Verification in Opencast
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
GHSA-44cw-p2hm-gpf6 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 379,145 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.opencastproject:opencast-kernel☕org.opencastproject:opencast-kernelReal-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
Opencast before version 8.9 and 7.9 disables HTTPS hostname verification of its HTTP client used for a large portion of Opencast's HTTP requests.
Hostname verification is an important part when using HTTPS to ensure that the presented certificate is valid for the host. Disabling it can allow for man-in-the-middle attacks.
Patches
This problem is fixed in Opencast 7.9 and Opencast 8.9
Self-Signed Certificates
Please be aware that fixing the problem means that Opencast will not simply accept any self-signed certificates any longer without properly importing them. If you need those, please make sure to import them into the Java key store. Better yet, get a valid certificate e.g. from Let's Encrypt.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.opencastproject:opencast-kernel | all versions | 7.9org.opencastproject:opencast-kernel:7.9 |
| ☕Maven | org.opencastproject:opencast-kernel | ≥ 8.0&&< 8.9 | 8.9org.opencastproject:opencast-kernel:8.9 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.opencastproject:opencast-kernel, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.opencastproject:opencast-kernel to 7.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-44cw-p2hm-gpf6 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 GHSA-44cw-p2hm-gpf6 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-44cw-p2hm-gpf6. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-44cw-p2hm-gpf6 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-44cw-p2hm-gpf6 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.