---
title: "CVE-2026-89238: WSS4J - Broken Access Control"
description: "WSS4J contains an encrypted header child confusion vulnerability caused by attacker-controlled plaintext elements being promoted as decrypted headers, letting attackers bypass confidentiality policies, exploit requires crafted SOAP messages."
url: https://panop.io/threat-heartbeat/CVE-2026-89238/
---

# CVE-2026-89238 WSS4J - Broken Access Control

WSS4J contains an encrypted header child confusion vulnerability caused by attacker-controlled plaintext elements being promoted as decrypted headers, letting attackers bypass confidentiality policies, exploit requires crafted SOAP messages.

CVSS base score 9.1 /10

Critical

CISA KEV

Not listed

Public exploit

None known

Authentication

Not required

EPSS

0.27% chance of exploitation in 30 days

[View the NVD record ↗](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89238)

## Details

Type

Broken Access Control

Impact

Information Disclosure, Broken Access Control

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Published

30 September 2026

Updated

15 October 2026

Weakness

[CWE-345](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/345.html)

## Vendor fix

Upgrade to versions 4.0.2, 3.0.6, or 2.4.4 or later.

Patching closes this CVE. It does not tell you which of your systems run the affected version, or what else is exposed alongside them.

## References

- [https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89238](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89238)
- [https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/1lv4hpl8kon1ns5txjnhn2m2sh9rl22w](https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/1lv4hpl8kon1ns5txjnhn2m2sh9rl22w)
- [http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/30/11](http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/30/11)

[← All CVEs](https://panop.io/threat-heartbeat/)

## What this record can't tell you

- Whether you run the affected software, and where
- Whether an attacker can actually reach and exploit it
- The misconfigurations that never get a CVE number
- What it would cost the business, ranked into what to fix first

Panop answers these inside your environment, for this CVE and every other finding.

[Book a demo](https://panop.io/demo)