CVE-2016-6794
MediumCVSS 5.3Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Very high risk94th percentile - higher than 94% of all known CVEs
Summary
In Apache Tomcat, when a SecurityManager is configured, the system property replacement feature for configuration files could be used by a malicious web application to bypass the SecurityManager and read system properties that should not be visible.
Risk Assessment
A malicious web application running on the Tomcat server could access sensitive system properties, potentially leading to information disclosure about the environment.
Recommendation
Upgrade Apache Tomcat to a version later than 9.0.0.M9, 8.5.4, 8.0.36, 7.0.70, or 6.0.45 to eliminate the SecurityManager bypass.
Other vulnerabilities in Apache Tomcat
See all- CVE-2026-43513High
The vulnerability related to improper handling of case sensitivity in LockOutRealm in Apache Tomcat may lead to unauthorized access. It affects versions from 11.0.0-M1 to 11.0.21, from 10.1.0-M1 to 10.1.54, from 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.117, from 8.5.0 to 8.5.100, and from 7.0.0 to 7.0.109.
- CVE-2026-42498High
A vulnerability in Apache Tomcat related to the exposure of the HTTP Authentication Header to unexpected hosts during WebSocket authentication. It affects versions from 11.0.0-M1 to 11.0.21, 10.1.0-M1 to 10.1.54, 9.0.2 to 9.0.117, 8.5.24 to 8.5.100, and 7.0.83 to 7.0.109.
- CVE-2026-41284High
There is a vulnerability in Apache Tomcat related to resource allocation without limits or throttling. This affects versions from 11.0.0-M1 to 11.0.21, from 10.1.0-M1 to 10.1.54, and from 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.117.
- CVE-2025-48989High
A vulnerability in Apache Tomcat related to improper resource shutdown or release allows for a 'made you reset' attack. This affects versions from 11.0.0-M1 to 11.0.9, from 10.1.0-M1 to 10.1.43, and from 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.107.
- CVE-2017-7675High
The HTTP/2 implementation in Apache Tomcat from version 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.0.M21 and from 8.5.0 to 8.5.15 bypassed several security checks that prevented directory traversal attacks. It was therefore possible to bypass security constraints using a specially crafted URL.
- CVE-2016-6817High
The HTTP/2 header parser in Apache Tomcat versions 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.0.M11 and 8.5.0 to 8.5.6 entered an infinite loop if a header larger than the available buffer was received. This made a denial of service attack possible.
- CVE-2017-5650High
In Apache Tomcat versions 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.0.M18 and 8.5.0 to 8.5.12, the handling of an HTTP/2 GOAWAY frame did not close streams associated with that connection waiting for a WINDOW_UPDATE, potentially leading to exhaustion of available processing threads.
- CVE-2017-5647High
A bug in the handling of pipelined requests in Apache Tomcat causes the request to be lost when send file processing of the previous request is completed. This can lead to responses being sent for the wrong requests.
- CVE-2016-6816High
The code in Apache Tomcat versions from 6.0.0 to 9.0.0.M11 allowed parsing of the HTTP request line with invalid characters. This could be exploited in conjunction with a proxy that also accepted these characters to inject data into the HTTP response.
- CVE-2017-6056High
A programming error was discovered in the processing of HTTPS requests in the Apache Tomcat servlet and JSP engine, which may result in denial of service due to an infinite loop. This issue arises from backporting the CVE-2016-6816 fix without including the fix for Tomcat bug 57544.
Original NVD description (English source)
When a SecurityManager is configured, a web application's ability to read system properties should be controlled by the SecurityManager. 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, 6.0.0 to 6.0.45 the system property replacement feature for configuration files could be used by a malicious web application to bypass the SecurityManager and read system properties that should not be visible.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS