Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in the example web applications for Jakarta Tomcat 5.5.6 and earlier allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via (1) el/functions.jsp, (2) el/implicit-objects.jsp, and (3) jspx/textRotate.jspx in examples/jsp2/, as demonstrated via script in a request to snp/snoop.jsp. NOTE: other XSS issues in the manager were simultaneously reported, but these require admin access and do not cross privilege boundaries.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2005-4838 is rated Moderate Risk (49.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 7.79%, 92th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-05-19 | 8.08% | 7.79% | -0.29% |
| 2 | 2026-02-24 | 8.32% | 8.08% | -0.24% |
| 3 | 2026-02-19 | — | 8.32% | — |
Full EPSS history (28 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.3 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
8.6 | 2.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
redhat
|
low | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2005-4838 |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2005-4838 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (tomcat5.5), 4 status rows across 4 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, upstream): not-affected 2, DNE 1, needs-triage 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2005-4838 |