Apache Camel’s Camel-PQC component persists key-lifecycle metadata using java.io.ObjectInputStream to read Base64-encoded data without an ObjectInputFilter or class allow-list, allowing an attacker to craft a malicious serialized object that is deserialized before the type check. The flaw is CWE-502 and can allow arbitrary code execution in the context of the Camel application that manages the keys.

Affected systems are the Apache Camel product, specifically versions 4.18.0 through 4.18.2 inclusive, and 4.19.0 through 4.20.x inclusive. Versions 4.18.3 (for the 4.18.x LTS stream) and 4.21.0 contain the fix.

The CVSS score of 8.8 indicates high severity. The EPSS score is less than 1%, suggesting a low likelihood of exploitation but not impossible. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV. The attacker must have the ability to write to the operator-controlled secret backend, such as a Vault or an AWS Secrets Manager secret, which requires a Vault token with write permissions or an IAM identity with secretsmanager:PutSecretValue rights. A crafted serialized object placed in these locations will be deserialized during normal key-lifecycle operations, potentially executing arbitrary code in the Camel application’s process.