CVE-2026-35554
What it is
A race condition in the Apache Kafka Java producer client’s buffer pool management can cause messages to be silently delivered to incorrect topics. When a produce batch expires due to delivery.timeout.ms while a network request containing that batch is still in flight, the batch’s ByteBuffer is prematurely deallocated and returned to the buffer pool. If a subsequent producer batch—potentially destined for a different topic—reuses this freed buffer before the original network request completes, the buffer contents may become corrupted. This can result in messages being delivered to unintended topics without any error being reported to the producer. Data Confidentiality: Messages intended for one topic may be delivered to a different topic, potentially exposing sensitive data to consumers who have access to the destination topic but not the intended source topic. Data Integrity: Consumers on the receiving topic may encounter unexpected or incompatible messages, leading to deserialization failures, processing errors, and corrupted downstream data. This issue affects Apache Kafka versions ≤ 3.9.1, ≤ 4.0.1, and ≤ 4.1.1. Kafka users are advised to upgrade to 3.9.2, 4.0.2, 4.1.2, 4.2.0, or later to address this vulnerability.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited over the network without logging in. High risk of data exposure, data tampering.
- Exploit odds
- 0.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Fix
- A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.
Timeline
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Why it ranks here
- Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
- Exploit odds: 0.5% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Severity: 8.7 HIGH (CVSS).
- Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 0.5% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-362 · Race condition
- Record status
- Analyzed
Affected
- Apache Kafka < 3.9.2
- Apache Kafka < 4.0.2
- Apache Kafka < 4.1.2
Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 8.7
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Is it in your code?
Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.
Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2026-35554.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2026-35554. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.
