GHSA-c9hw-wf7x-jp9j · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Improper Privilege Management in Tomcat
When using the Apache JServ Protocol (AJP), care must be taken when trusting incoming connections to Apache Tomcat. Tomcat treats AJP connections as having higher trust than, for example, a similar HTTP connection. If such connections are available to an attacker, they can be exploited in ways that may be surprising. In Apache Tomcat 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.0.30, 8.5.0 to 8.5.50 and 7.0.0 to 7.0.99, Tomcat shipped with an AJP Connector enabled by default that listened on all configured IP addresses. It was expected (and recommended in the security guide) that this Connector would be disabled if not required. This vulnerability report identified a mechanism that allowed: - returning arbitrary files from anywhere in the web application - processing any file in the web application as a JSP Further, if the web application allowed file upload and stored those files within the web application (or the attacker was able to control the content of the web application by some other means) then this, along with the ability to process a file as a JSP, made remote code execution possible. It is important to note that mitigation is only required if an AJP port is accessible to untrusted users. Users wishing to take a defence-in-depth approach and block the vector that permits returning arbitrary files and execution as JSP may upgrade to Apache Tomcat 9.0.31, 8.5.51 or 7.0.100 or later. A number of changes were made to the default AJP Connector configuration in 9.0.31 to harden the default configuration. It is likely that users upgrading to 9.0.31, 8.5.51 or 7.0.100 or later will need to make small changes to their configurations.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-1938 is rated Critical Active Threat (99.4/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 94.47%, 100th percentile). Core evidence: CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2022-03-03) affecting Apache / Tomcat. Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. Mandatory action: The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
: Apache Tomcat Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail
: 2022-03-03
: 2022-03-17
: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49039 | exploit_db | edb | 2020-11-13 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
| 48143 | exploit_db | edb | 2020-02-20 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
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 | 2025-11-21 | 94.27% | 94.47% | +0.20% |
| 2 | 2025-11-18 | 94.47% | 94.27% | -0.20% |
| 3 | 2025-03-17 | — | 94.47% | — |
Full EPSS history (11 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.8 | 3.1 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| 9.8 | 3.1 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.9 | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 |
| 7.5 | 2.0 | HIGH |
|
10.0 | 6.4 | [email protected] |
GHSA-c9hw-wf7x-jp9j · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Improper Privilege Management in Tomcat
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2020-1938 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-2020-1938 |
gentoo
|
normal | CVE-2020-1938: 1 GLSA(s) (202003-43), 1 atom(s) (www-servers/tomcat); latest impact normal. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-1938 |
redhat
|
high | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-1938 |
suse
|
high | CVE-2020-1938 severity important: SUSE including 386 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 750 product×package rows across 39 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Enterprise Storage 5, … (39 product lines)): Fixed 512, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 7. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-1938/ |
ubuntu
|
low | CVE-2020-1938 low priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (tomcat7, tomcat8, tomcat9), 42 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 23, not-affected 9, ignored 7, needs-triage 2, released 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-1938 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| apache | geode | 1.12.0 | cpe:2.3:a:apache:geode:1.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| apache | tomcat | >= 7.0.0, < 7.0.100 | cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| apache | tomcat | >= 8.5.0, < 8.5.51 | cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| apache | tomcat | >= 9.0.0, < 9.0.31 | cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 30 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:30:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 31 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 32 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | agile_engineering_data_management | 6.2.1.0 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_engineering_data_management:6.2.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | agile_plm | 9.3.3 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_plm:9.3.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | agile_plm | 9.3.5 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_plm:9.3.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | agile_plm | 9.3.6 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_plm:9.3.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | communications_element_manager | 8.1.1 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_element_manager:8.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | communications_element_manager | 8.2.0 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_element_manager:8.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | communications_element_manager | 8.2.1 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_element_manager:8.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | communications_instant_messaging_server | 10.0.1.4.0 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_instant_messaging_server:10.0.1.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | health_sciences_empirica_inspections | 1.0.1.2 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:health_sciences_empirica_inspections:1.0.1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | health_sciences_empirica_signal | 7.3.3 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:health_sciences_empirica_signal:7.3.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | hospitality_guest_access | 4.2.0 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:hospitality_guest_access:4.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | hospitality_guest_access | 4.2.1 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:hospitality_guest_access:4.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | instantis_enterprisetrack | >= 17.1, <= 17.3 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:instantis_enterprisetrack:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | mysql_enterprise_monitor | <= 4.0.12 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:mysql_enterprise_monitor:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | mysql_enterprise_monitor | >= 8.0.0, <= 8.0.20 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:mysql_enterprise_monitor:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | siebel_ui_framework | <= 20.5 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:siebel_ui_framework:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | transportation_management | 6.3.7 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:transportation_management:6.3.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 8.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| opensuse | leap | 15.1 | cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| blackberry | good_control | <= 5.2.58.38 | cpe:2.3:a:blackberry:good_control:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| blackberry | workspaces_server | 7.0.1 | cpe:2.3:a:blackberry:workspaces_server:7.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| blackberry | workspaces_server | 7.1.2 | cpe:2.3:a:blackberry:workspaces_server:7.1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| blackberry | workspaces_server | 8.1.0 | cpe:2.3:a:blackberry:workspaces_server:8.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| blackberry | workspaces_server | 9.0 | cpe:2.3:a:blackberry:workspaces_server:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| netapp | data_availability_services | — | cpe:2.3:a:netapp:data_availability_services:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| netapp | oncommand_system_manager | >= 3.0.0, <= 3.1.3 | cpe:2.3:a:netapp:oncommand_system_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |