CVE-2026-41727 | In Spring for Apache Kafka, forged retry topic headers subvert retry routing and backoff behavior

Spring Kafka's retry topic infrastructure did not sufficiently validate user-controlled header values before acting on them. A producer could send a record with a crafted retry_topic-attempts header to supply an out-of-range attempt count and cause the retry topic router to misidentify where the message was in the retry sequence. Affected versions: Spring for Apache Kafka 4.0.0 through 4.0.5; 3.3.0 through 3.3.15; 3.2.0 through 3.2.13; 2.9.0 through 2.9.13; 2.8.0 through 2.8.11.

Published: 2026-06-09 Last update: 2026-06-22 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-41727 is rated Low Risk (31.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.24%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-41727

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.06% 0.24% +0.18%
2 2026-06-10 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-41727

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-41727

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-41727

GHSA-53w6-v7cv-fc9h · Severity: medium — Spring Kafka's retry topic infrastructure did not sufficiently validate user-controlled header...

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-41727

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vmware spring_for_apache_kafka >= 2.8.0, <= 2.8.11 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:spring_for_apache_kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware spring_for_apache_kafka >= 2.9.0, <= 2.9.13 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:spring_for_apache_kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware spring_for_apache_kafka >= 3.2.0, <= 3.2.13 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:spring_for_apache_kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware spring_for_apache_kafka >= 3.3.0, <= 3.3.15 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:spring_for_apache_kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware spring_for_apache_kafka >= 4.0.0, <= 4.0.5 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:spring_for_apache_kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-41727

cvelogic Threat Intelligence