Apache Axis is an implementation of SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). It can be used to build both web service clients and servers.
Apache Axis did not verify that the server hostname matched the domain name in the subject's Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName field in X.509 certificates. This could allow a man-in-the-middle attacker to spoof an SSL server if they had a certificate that was valid for any domain name. (CVE-2012-5784)
All users of axis are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which correct this issue. Applications using Apache Axis must be restarted for this update to take effect.