CVE-2018-8039

Severity: high (CVSS 8.1 v3.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 8.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2018-07-02 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-755

Description

It is possible to configure Apache CXF to use the com.sun.net.ssl implementation via 'System.setProperty("java.protocol.handler.pkgs", "com.sun.net.ssl.internal.www.protocol");'. When this system property is set, CXF uses some reflection to try to make the HostnameVerifier work with the old com.sun.net.ssl.HostnameVerifier interface. However, the default HostnameVerifier implementation in CXF does not implement the method in this interface, and an exception is thrown. However, in Apache CXF prior to 3.2.5 and 3.1.16 the exception is caught in the reflection code and not properly propagated. What this means is that if you are using the com.sun.net.ssl stack with CXF, an error with TLS hostname verification will not be thrown, leaving a CXF client subject to man-in-the-middle attacks.

Affected products

Apache Software Foundation Apache CXF: before 3.1.16; from 3.2.0 before 3.2.5 — fixed in 3.1.16, 3.2.5
Red Hat JBoss EAP: 7.1.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Apache Software Foundation Apache CXF 3.1.16, 3.2.5. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2018-8039 or the next vulnerability affects your stack