CVE-2016-1240

Public Exploit

Description

The Tomcat init script in the tomcat7 package before 7.0.56-3+deb8u4 and tomcat8 package before 8.0.14-1+deb8u3 on Debian jessie and the tomcat6 and libtomcat6-java packages before 6.0.35-1ubuntu3.8 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, the tomcat7 and libtomcat7-java packages before 7.0.52-1ubuntu0.7 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and tomcat8 and libtomcat8-java packages before 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS allows local users with access to the tomcat account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the Catalina log file, as demonstrated by /var/log/tomcat7/catalina.out.

Category

7.8
CVSS
Severity: High
CVSS 3.0 •
CVSS 2.0 •
EPSS 20.52% Top 5%
Vendor Advisory debian.org Vendor Advisory gentoo.org Vendor Advisory redhat.com Vendor Advisory debian.org Vendor Advisory redhat.com Vendor Advisory redhat.com Vendor Advisory ubuntu.com
Affected: n/a n/a
Published at:
Updated at:

References

Link Tags
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036845 vdb entry third party advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3670 third party advisory vendor advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201705-09 vendor advisory
http://legalhackers.com/advisories/Tomcat-DebPkgs-Root-Privilege-Escalation-Exploit-CVE-2016-1240.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93263 vdb entry
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0457.html vendor advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180731-0002/
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40450/ exploit
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3669 third party advisory vendor advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0455 vendor advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539519/100/0/threaded mailing list
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0456 vendor advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3081-1 third party advisory vendor advisory
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/170857/Apache-Tomcat-On-Ubuntu-Log-Init-Privilege-Escalation.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the severity of CVE-2016-1240?
CVE-2016-1240 has been scored as a high severity vulnerability.
How to fix CVE-2016-1240?
To fix CVE-2016-1240, make sure you are using an up-to-date version of the affected component(s) by checking the vendor release notes. As for now, there are no other specific guidelines available.
Is CVE-2016-1240 being actively exploited in the wild?
It is possible that CVE-2016-1240 is being exploited or will be exploited in a near future based on public information. According to its EPSS score, there is a ~21% probability that this vulnerability will be exploited by malicious actors in the next 30 days.
This platform uses data from the NIST NVD, MITRE CVE, MITRE CWE, First.org and CISA KEV but is not endorsed or certified by these entities. CVE is a registred trademark of the MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CVE content is MITRE's CVE web site. CWE is a registred trademark of the MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CWE content is MITRE's CWE web site.
© 2025 Under My Watch. All Rights Reserved.