Insufficient Session Expiration vulnerability in Apache Camel Keycloak component.
This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.16.0 before 4.18.5, from 4.19.0 before 4.22.2.
When token introspection is enabled on the camel-keycloak KeycloakSecurityPolicy (useTokenIntrospection=true), the security processor validates the access token of a request by sending it to Keycloak's OAuth 2.0 token introspection endpoint, and accepts the token while the response reports it as active. The introspection endpoint reports a token as inactive once its exp (expiration) time has passed, so on this path the active flag is what enforces token expiry. Introspection results are cached by default (introspectionCacheEnabled=true, introspectionCacheTtl=60 seconds), and both cache implementations shipped with the component, ConcurrentMapTokenCache and CaffeineTokenCache, expired an entry a fixed time after it was inserted, without bounding that lifetime by the exp claim that the cached response already carried. KeycloakSecurityProcessor in turn checked only the active flag of the result, on every path that uses introspection, and never compared exp with the current time. A response cached shortly before the token expired was therefore served to later requests carrying the same token for up to the configured time-to-live after the token's expiry, and those requests were admitted with the roles and permissions the expired token had carried, although RFC 7662, which defines token introspection, states that a response containing exp must not be cached beyond that time. The access token is supplied by the caller with each request, typically as a bearer token in the Authorization header, so a caller holding a token that was valid moments earlier could keep using it after it expired, for as long as the cached entry lived. The window is bounded by introspectionCacheTtl, which is 60 seconds by default and 300 to 600 seconds where the documentation's recommendation for internal services was followed, and it opens only for a token that the same Camel process introspected and cached while the token was still active. The issue grants nothing beyond what the token already carried: it allows no token forgery and no privilege escalation, and token introspection is not enabled by default, which is why the severity is assessed medium. The local JWT verification path, used when introspection is disabled, is not affected by this issue.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.23.0, which fixes the issue. If users are on the 4.22.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.22.2. If users are on the 4.18.x releases stream, then they are suggested to upgrade to 4.18.5. The 4.16.x, 4.17.x and 4.19.x to 4.21.x release lines reached end of life before this issue was resolved and will not receive a fix, so deployments on them must move to a supported release. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, set introspectionCacheEnabled=false on the KeycloakSecurityPolicy, so that every request is checked against the introspection endpoint, which reports an expired token as inactive, at the cost of one introspection call per request. Lowering introspectionCacheTtl only narrows the window and does not close it.
No affected software listed.
A vulnerability database tells you what is broken. Attack surface management tells you where it is running: it discovers your internet-facing assets and flags the ones affected by issues like this one.
What is attack surface management? →A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.
Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.
Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.
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