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CVE-2020-1938

CRITICAL CISA KEV

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.

Published: Feb 24, 2020 Modified: Jun 17, 2026

CVSS Metrics

CVSSv3
Attack Vector: NETWORK Attack Complexity: LOW Privileges Required: NONE User Interaction: NONE Scope: UNCHANGED Confidentiality Impact: HIGH Integrity Impact: HIGH Availability Impact: HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Products (38)

Vendor Product Version
apache geode 1.12.0
apache tomcat * ≥ 7.0.0 < 7.0.100
apache tomcat * ≥ 8.5.0 < 8.5.51
apache tomcat * ≥ 9.0.0 < 9.0.31
fedoraproject fedora 30
fedoraproject fedora 31
fedoraproject fedora 32
oracle agile_engineering_data_management 6.2.1.0
oracle agile_plm 9.3.3
oracle agile_plm 9.3.5
oracle agile_plm 9.3.6
oracle communications_element_manager 8.1.1
oracle communications_element_manager 8.2.0
oracle communications_element_manager 8.2.1
oracle communications_instant_messaging_server 10.0.1.4.0
oracle health_sciences_empirica_inspections 1.0.1.2
oracle health_sciences_empirica_signal 7.3.3
oracle hospitality_guest_access 4.2.0
oracle hospitality_guest_access 4.2.1
oracle instantis_enterprisetrack * ≥ 17.1

…and 18 more

GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-c9hw-wf7x-jp9j

Improper Privilege Management in Tomcat

maven org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core >= 9.0.0, < 9.0.31 Fixed: 9.0.31
maven org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core >= 8.0.0, < 8.5.51 Fixed: 8.5.51
maven org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core >= 7.0.0, < 7.0.100 Fixed: 7.0.100

References (103)

Risk Scores

CVSS Score 9.8 / 10
EPSS Score 99.27%

Top 0% most likely to be exploited

Threat Score 99 / 100

CISA Known Exploited

Date Added: 2022-03-03
Due Date: 2022-03-17
Required Action:

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Data Sources

NVD CISA KEV EPSS GitHub