Apache Axis2 has Improper Input Validation

published 2012-11-04 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also GHSA-wwq7-pxwc-p4rc , EUVD-2022-5659

cvss: 5.8; version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 2.2%; EPSS 2.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 82%
public exploits: 0; none known

Apache Axis2/Java 1.6.2 and earlier does not verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject's Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName field of the X.509 certificate, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers via an arbitrary valid certificate.

Patch / fix

fixed in 2

maven org.apache.axis2:axis2 1.8.0
maven org.apache.axis2:axis2-transport-http 1.8.0

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2012-5785 updated 2025-11-21 cvss 4.3

axis2: Does not verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject's CN or subjectAltName field of the x.509 certificate

Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

2.23% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 82% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

cs.utexas.edu http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/shmat_ccs12.pdf referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	2.0	5.8	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
maven	org.apache.axis2:axis2	<1.8.0	1.8.0
maven	org.apache.axis2:axis2-transport-http	<1.8.0	1.8.0

Classification

Weakness

CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

References

cs.utexas.edu /~shmat/shmat_ccs12.pdf
web, exploit
secunia.com /advisories/51219
third-party-advisory
exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com /vulnerabilities/79830
vdb-entry, web
securityfocus.com /bid/56408
vdb-entry
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2012-5785
advisory
github.com /apache/axis-axis2-java-core
package
issues.apache.org /jira/browse/AXIS2-6018
web

Sources

CVE List CVE-2012-5785
GitHub Advisory GHSA-wwq7-pxwc-p4rc
NVD CVE-2012-5785

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary