Vulnerability Note VU#343355

Apache Tomcat UTF8 Directory Traversal Vulnerability

Overview

Apache Tomcat contains a vulnerability that may allow directory traversal.

I. Description

Apache Tomcat is an implementation of the Java Servlet and JavaServer Page (JSP) technologies. Apache Tomcat contains a vulnerability in the way malformed requests are handled. According to the Apache Tomcat 6.x Vulnerabilities page:

If a context is configured with allowLinking="true" and the connector is configured with URIEncoding="UTF-8" then a malformed request may be used to access arbitrary files on the server.

This vulnerability affects versions 4.1.0-4.1.37, 5.5.0-5.5.26, and 6.0.0-6.0.16.

Note that we are aware of publicly-available exploit code for this vulnerability.

II. Impact

A remote attacker could gain access to arbitrary files on the server.

III. Solution

Apply an update

This vulnerability is addressed in Apache Tomcat 4.1.38, 5.5.27, and 6.0.18. Please check the Apache Tomcat Security page for availability of fixes for this and other versions of Tomcat.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Apache Tomcat	Vulnerable	19-Aug-2008

References

http://tomcat.apache.org/security.html

Credit

This issue was reported by William A. Rowe of Apache.

This document was written by Chris Taschner.

Other Information

Date Public:	2008-08-11
Date First Published:	2008-08-19
Date Last Updated:	2008-08-19
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CVE-2008-2938
NVD-ID(s):	CVE-2008-2938
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	7.14
Document Revision:	4

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.

Produced 2008 by US-CERT, a government organization
Disclaimers and copyright information

Get Adobe Reader