CVE-2016-5018

Exp

In Apache Tomcat 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.0.M9, 8.5.0 to 8.5.4, 8.0.0.RC1 to 8.0.36, 7.0.0 to 7.0.70 and 6.0.0 to 6.0.45 a malicious web application was able to bypass a configured SecurityManager via a Tomcat utility method that was accessible to web applications.

Published: 2017-08-10 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-5018 is rated High Exploit Risk (84.6/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 10.30%, 95th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2016-5018

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-5018

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 2026-06-17 10.39% 10.30% -0.08%
2 2026-06-15 0.93% 10.39% +9.45%
3 2026-03-11 — 0.93% —

Full EPSS history (19 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-5018

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.1 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 5.2 [email protected]
6.4 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-5018

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2016-5018

GHSA-4v3g-g84w-hv7r · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel in Apache Tomcat

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-5018

vendor priority summary link
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-5018
suse low CVE-2016-5018 severity low: SUSE including 81 source package names (tomcat, tomcat-7.0.76-2.el7, …), 229 product×package rows across 25 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 7, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP5, … (25 product lines)): Fixed 166, Known Not Affected 63. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-5018/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-5018 medium priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (tomcat6, tomcat7, tomcat8), 69 status rows across 23 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, precise, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 49, not-affected 8, released 7, ignored 4, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-5018

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-5018

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache tomcat >= 6.0.0, <= 6.0.45 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat >= 7.0.0, <= 7.0.70 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat >= 8.0, <= 8.0.36 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat >= 8.5.0, <= 8.5.4 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone1:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone2:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone3:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone4:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone5:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone6:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone7:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone8:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone9:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp oncommand_insight — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:oncommand_insight:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp oncommand_shift — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:oncommand_shift:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp snap_creator_framework — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:snap_creator_framework:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat jboss_enterprise_application_platform 6.4 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:6.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat jboss_enterprise_web_server 3.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:jboss_enterprise_web_server:3.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 7.5 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle tekelec_platform_distribution >= 7.4.0, <= 7.7.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:tekelec_platform_distribution:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-5018

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/155873/Tomcat-9.0.0.M1-Sandbox-Escape.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0457.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-1551.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3720 Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93942 Broken Link
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037142 Broken Link
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1038757 Broken Link
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0455 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0456 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:1548 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:1549 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:1550 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:1552 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:2247 Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/343558d982879bf88ec20dbf707f8c11255f8e219e81d45c4f8d0551%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/37220405a377c0182d2afdbc36461c4783b2930fbeae3a17f1333113%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/388a323769f1dff84c9ec905455aa73fbcb20338e3c7eb131457f708%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/39ae1f0bd5867c15755a6f959b271ade1aea04ccdc3b2e639dcd903b%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/3d19773b4cf0377db62d1e9328bf9160bf1819f04f988315086931d7%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/845312a10aabbe2c499fca94003881d2c79fc993d85f34c1f5c77424%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/9b3a63a20c87179815fdea14f6766853bafe79a0042dc0b4aa878a9e%40%3Cannounce.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/b5e3f51d28cd5d9b1809f56594f2cf63dcd6a90429e16ea9f83bbedc%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/b84ad1258a89de5c9c853c7f2d3ad77e5b8b2930be9e132d5cef6b95%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/b8a1bf18155b552dcf9a928ba808cbadad84c236d85eab3033662cfb%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r03c597a64de790ba42c167efacfa23300c3d6c9fe589ab87fe02859c%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r587e50b86c1a96ee301f751d50294072d142fd6dc08a8987ae9f3a9b%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9136ff5b13e4f1941360b5a309efee2c114a14855578c3a2cbe5d19c%40%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180605-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4557-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
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