CVE-2016-6796

A malicious web application running on 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 was able to bypass a configured SecurityManager via manipulation of the configuration parameters for the JSP Servlet.

Published: 2017-08-10 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-6796 is rated Moderate Risk (62.9/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 8.32%, 94th 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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-6796

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 8.39% 8.32% -0.07%
2 2026-06-15 0.62% 8.39% +7.77%
3 2026-06-04 0.62%

Full EPSS history (20 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-6796

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful 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 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-6796

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2016-6796

GHSA-3mjp-p938-4329 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Apache Tomcat vulnerable to SecurityManager bypass

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-6796

vendor priority summary link
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-6796
suse low CVE-2016-6796 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-2016-6796/
ubuntu low CVE-2016-6796 low 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, released 8, not-affected 7, ignored 4, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-6796

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-6796

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:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*
oracle tekelec_platform_distribution 7.4.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:tekelec_platform_distribution:7.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle tekelec_platform_distribution 7.7.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:tekelec_platform_distribution:7.7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-6796

URL Tags
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/93944 Broken Link
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037141 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/5a2105a56b2495ab70fa568f06925bd861f0d71ffab4fb38bb4fdc45%40%3Cannounce.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/6af47120905aa7d8fe12f42e8ff2284fb338ba141d3b77b8c7cb61b3%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/88855876c33f2f9c532ffb75bfee570ccf0b17ffa77493745af9a17a%40%3Cdev.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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