tomcat: Local privilege escalation via systemd-tmpfiles service
Published Oct 13, 2016
7.8
HIGHCVSS 3.1
EPSS 3.78%
Description
The Tomcat package on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7, Fedora, CentOS, Oracle Linux, and possibly other Linux distributions uses weak permissions for /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/tomcat.conf, which allows local users to gain root privileges by leveraging membership in the tomcat group.
Affected products
No data.
Running on/with
- 17.1
- 17.2
- 17.3
- 7
- 7.0
- 7.0
- 7.2
- 7.3
- 7.4
- 7.6
- 7.7
- 7.2
- 7.3
- 7.4
- 7.5
- 7.6
- 7.7
- 7.2
- 7.3
- 7.6
- 7.7
- 7.0
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
tomcat-0:7.0.54-8.el7_2
Fixed · RHSA-2016:2046
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
tomcat5
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
tomcat6
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Data Grid 6
jbossweb
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6
jbossweb
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6
jbossweb
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6
tomcat7
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7
tomcat
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2
tomcat6
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2
tomcat7
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 3
tomcat7
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 3
tomcat8
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Fuse Service Works 6
jbossweb
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Operations Network 3
jbossweb
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Portal 6
jbossweb
Not affected
Red Hat Software Collections
rh-java-common-tomcat
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | tomcat-0:7.0.54-8.el7_2 | Fixed | RHSA-2016:2046 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | tomcat5 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | tomcat6 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Data Grid 6 | jbossweb | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6 | jbossweb | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 | jbossweb | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 | tomcat7 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 | tomcat | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2 | tomcat6 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2 | tomcat7 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 3 | tomcat7 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 3 | tomcat8 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Fuse Service Works 6 | jbossweb | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Operations Network 3 | jbossweb | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Portal 6 | jbossweb | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Software Collections | rh-java-common-tomcat | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2022–2026- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (14 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 3.78% (0.03782) | 89.62th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 3.78% (0.03782) | 88.52th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 19, 2026 | 11.55% (0.11552) | 93.55th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 17, 2026 | 16.30% (0.16296) | 94.74th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 14.91% (0.14913) | 94.03th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.13% (0.00129) | 49.36th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Jun 18, 2024 | 0.13% (0.00129) | 47.99th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 15, 2023 | 0.13% (0.00129) | 45.98th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.06% (0.00064) | 25.96th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 11.17% (0.11174) | 94.89th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 13, 2023 | 11.17% (0.11174) | 94.71th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 3, 2023 | 17.90% (0.17899) | 96.14th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 11.17% (0.11174) | 94.46th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 11.17% (0.11174) | 88.56th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
References (15)
- http://legalhackers.com/advisories/Tomcat-RedHat-Pkgs-Root-PrivEsc-Exploit-CVE-2016-5425.html x_refsource_MISCExploitThird Party Advisory
- http://legalhackers.com/advisories/Tomcat-RedHat-based-Root-Privilege-Escalation-Exploit.txt
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/139041/Apache-Tomcat-8-7-6-Privilege-Escalation.html x_refsource_MISCExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2046.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATThird Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/10/10/2 mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTMailing ListThird Party Advisory
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinoct2016-3090545.html x_refsource_CONFIRMThird Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93472 vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036979 vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-5425 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1362545 Issue Tracking
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/6b414817c2b0bf351138911c8c922ec5dd577ebc0b9a7f42d705752d%40%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-5425
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-5425
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40488/ exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2019-5072832.html x_refsource_MISCThird Party Advisory
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.