CVE-2023-40743: Apache Axis 1.x (EOL) may allow RCE when untrusted input is passed to getService

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 3.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-09-05 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-20

Description

** UNSUPPORTED WHEN ASSIGNED ** When integrating Apache Axis 1.x in an application, it may not have been obvious that looking up a service through "ServiceFactory.getService" allows potentially dangerous lookup mechanisms such as LDAP. When passing untrusted input to this API method, this could expose the application to DoS, SSRF and even attacks leading to RCE. As Axis 1 has been EOL we recommend you migrate to a different SOAP engine, such as Apache Axis 2/Java. As a workaround, you may review your code to verify no untrusted or unsanitized input is passed to "ServiceFactory.getService", or by applying the patch from https://github.com/apache/axis-axis1-java/commit/7e66753427466590d6def0125e448d2791723210 . The Apache Axis project does not expect to create an Axis 1.x release fixing this problem, though contributors that would like to work towards this are welcome.

Affected products

Apache Software Foundation Apache Axis: before 2023-08-01 — fixed in 2023-08-01

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Apache Software Foundation Apache Axis 2023-08-01. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2023-40743 or the next vulnerability affects your stack