CVE-2026-89238: Apache WSS4J: WSS4J EncryptedHeader child confusion causing wrong protected-header selection 

Severity: important 

Affected versions:

- Apache WSS4J (org.apache.wss4j:wss4j-ws-security-dom) 4.0.0 before 4.0.2
- Apache WSS4J (org.apache.wss4j:wss4j-ws-security-dom) 3.0.0 before 3.0.6
- Apache WSS4J (org.apache.wss4j:wss4j-ws-security-dom) before 2.4.4

Description:

WSS4J EncryptedHeader child confusion could promote an attacker-controlled plaintext element as the decrypted header, leading to incorrect confidentiality coverage and possible policy bypass.
Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 4.0.2 or 3.0.6 or 2.4.4, which fix this issue.

Credit:

Reported by n0mi1k (finder)

References:

https://ws.apache.org/
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-89238