Apache Camel-Undertow: The muteException consumer option defaulted to false, so a processing error returned the full Java stack trace in the HTTP response bodyGHSA-hjg2-f45w-c566
MEDIUMFix: apache/camel#23913GHSA-hjg2-f45w-c566 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-209 vulnerability in org.apache.camel:camel-undertow. A fix is available for org.apache.camel:camel-undertow — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-hjg2-f45w-c566.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-hjg2-f45w-c566 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,987 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.camel:camel-undertow☕org.apache.camel:camel-undertow☕org.apache.camel:camel-undertowReal-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
Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information vulnerability in Apache Camel Undertow Component.
The camel-undertow HTTP server consumer exposes a muteException option that controls what is returned to the client when a route processing error occurs. This option defaulted to false, whereas the other Camel HTTP server components (camel-http / camel-jetty / camel-servlet and camel-platform-http) default it to true. With muteException=false, when a request triggers an exception during route processing the consumer writes the full Throwable stack trace into the HTTP response body as text/plain instead of returning an empty body. Any unauthenticated client that can reach the endpoint and cause a processing error - for example by sending a malformed request body, an invalid parameter, or otherwise triggering a route-internal failure - therefore receives a complete Java stack trace. Such a stack trace can disclose sensitive internal information, including credentials embedded in exception messages, internal host names and IP addresses, filesystem paths, dependency and version details, database and class names, and the application's internal structure, which an attacker can use to plan further attacks. In addition, for Rest DSL consumers the muteException option was not honoured at all: the RestUndertowHttpBinding was created with a hard-coded false, so the stack trace was returned even when muteException=true had been configured. This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.0.0 before 4.14.8, from 4.15.0 before 4.18.3, from 4.19.0 before 4.21.0.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.21.0, which fixes the issue. If users are on the 4.14.x LTS releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.14.8. If users are on the 4.18.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.18.3. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, set muteException=true explicitly on the camel-undertow consumer (for example undertow: http://0.0.0.0:8080/api?muteException=true , or globally via the camel.component.undertow.mute-exception=true property), so that processing errors no longer return the stack trace to the client; note that on affected releases this workaround does not cover Rest DSL consumers, whose binding ignores the option until the fix is applied.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.camel:camel-undertow | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.14.8 | 4.14.8org.apache.camel:camel-undertow:4.14.8 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.camel:camel-undertow | ≥ 4.15.0&&< 4.18.3 | 4.18.3org.apache.camel:camel-undertow:4.18.3 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.camel:camel-undertow | ≥ 4.19.0&&< 4.21.0 | 4.21.0org.apache.camel:camel-undertow:4.21.0 |
Affected Products
camelapacheDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.camel:camel-undertow, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.camel:camel-undertow to 4.14.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hjg2-f45w-c566 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.
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.
This Moderate impact information disclosure flaw in Apache Camel Undertow allows unauthenticated attackers to obtain sensitive internal system details. By default, the `camel-undertow` HTTP server consumer returns full Java stack traces in error responses, which can expose credentials, internal network configurations,…
To mitigate this issue, configure the `camel-undertow` consumer to explicitly set `muteException=true`. This can be done by adding `?muteException=true` to the consumer URI (e.g., `undertow:http://0.0.0.0:8080/api?muteException=true`) or by setting the global property `camel.component.undertow.mute-exception=true`. This prevents Java stack traces from being returned in HTTP responses upon route processing errors. Note that this workaround may not apply to Rest DSL consumers in affected releases. A restart of the application or service hosting the Camel Undertow component may be required for the changes to take effect.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-hjg2-f45w-c566 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
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