CVE-2020-11996

A specially crafted sequence of HTTP/2 requests sent to Apache Tomcat 10.0.0-M1 to 10.0.0-M5, 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.35 and 8.5.0 to 8.5.55 could trigger high CPU usage for several seconds. If a sufficient number of such requests were made on concurrent HTTP/2 connections, the server could become unresponsive.

Published: 2020-06-26 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-11996 is rated High Risk (69.1/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 45.12%, 98th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +15.84% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2020-11996

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 2026-03-04 29.28% 45.12% +15.84%
2 2026-03-01 45.12% 29.28% -15.84%
3 2026-02-04 45.12%

Full EPSS history (54 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-11996

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:N/A:H 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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P 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:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-11996

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-11996

GHSA-53hp-jpwq-2jgq · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in Apache Tomcat

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-11996

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-11996 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (tomcat9), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-11996
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-11996
suse medium CVE-2020-11996 severity moderate: SUSE including 371 source package names (5.0.0-beta1.2.122:tomcat-9.0.36-3.3.1, 5.0.0-beta1.2.122:tomcat-el-3_0-api-9.0.36-3.3.1, …), 610 product×package rows across 54 product lines (Container containers/apache-tomcat, Container suse/manager/5.0/x86_64/server, … (54 product lines)): Fixed 321, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 58. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-11996/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-11996 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (tomcat8, tomcat9), 34 status rows across 17 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 16, not-affected 12, released 3, needed 2, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-11996

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-11996

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache tomcat >= 8.5.0, <= 8.5.55 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat >= 9.0.0, <= 9.0.35 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:milestone10:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone11:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone12:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone13:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone14:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone15:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone16:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone17:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone18:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone19:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:milestone20:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone21:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone22:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone23:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone24:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone25:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone26:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 9.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:9.0.0:milestone27:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 10.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:10.0.0:milestone1:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 10.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:10.0.0:milestone2:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 10.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:10.0.0:milestone3:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 10.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:10.0.0:milestone4:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache tomcat 10.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:10.0.0:milestone5:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 20.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
oracle mysql_enterprise_monitor <= 8.0.21 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:mysql_enterprise_monitor:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle siebel_ui_framework <= 20.12 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:siebel_ui_framework:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle workload_manager 12.2.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:workload_manager:12.2.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle workload_manager 18c cpe:2.3:a:oracle:workload_manager:18c:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle workload_manager 19c cpe:2.3:a:oracle:workload_manager:19c:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp oncommand_system_manager 3.0 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:oncommand_system_manager:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp oncommand_system_manager 3.1.3 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:oncommand_system_manager:3.1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-11996

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-07/msg00064.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-07/msg00072.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r2529016c311ce9485e6f173446d469600fdfbb94dccadfcd9dfdac79%40%3Cusers.tomcat.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r3ea96d8f36dd404acce83df8aeb22a9e807d6c13ca9c5dec72f872cd%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r5541ef6b6b68b49f76fc4c45695940116da2bcbe0312ef204a00a2e0%40%3Cannounce.tomcat.apache.org%3E Mailing List Vendor Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r5a4f80a6acc6607d61dae424b643b594c6188dd4e1eff04705c10db2%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r6c29801370a36c1a5159679269777ad0c73276d3015b8bbefea66e5c%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r74f5a8204efe574cbfcd95b2a16236fe95beb45c4d9fee3dc789dca9%40%3Ccommits.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8f3d416c193bc9384a8a7dd368623d441f5fcaff1057115008100561%40%3Ccommits.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8f7484589454638af527182ae55ef5b628ba00c05c5b11887c922fb1%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r93ca628ef3a4530dfe5ac49fddc795f0920a4b2a408b57a30926a42b%40%3Ccommits.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9ad911fe49450ed9405827af0e7a74104041081ff91864b1f2546bbd%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra7092f7492569b39b04ec0decf52628ba86c51f15efb38f5853e2760%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb4ee49ecc4c59620ffd5e66e84a17e526c2c3cfa95d0cd682d90d338%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb820f1a2a02bf07414be12c653c2ab5321fd87b9bf6c5e635c53ff4b%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rc80b96b4b96618b2b7461cb90664a428cfd6605eea9f74e51b792542%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rea65d6ef2e45dd1c45faae83922042732866c7b88fa109b76c83db52%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ref0339792ac6dac1dba83c071a727ad72380899bde60f6aaad4031b9%40%3Cnotifications.ofbiz.apache.org%3E
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/07/msg00010.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200709-0002/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4596-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4727 Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2021.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2020.html Third Party Advisory
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