Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Apache Tomcat
The readObject method in the DiskFileItem class in Apache Tomcat and JBoss Web, as used in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0 and Red Hat JBoss Portal 6.0.0, allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a NULL byte in a file name in a serialized instance, a similar issue to CVE-2013-2186.
NOTE: this issue is reportedly disputed by the Apache Tomcat team, although Red Hat considers it a vulnerability. The dispute appears to regard whether it is the responsibility of applications to avoid providing untrusted data to be deserialized, or whether this class should inherently protect against this issue. Regardless the tomcat maintainers have altered the behavior of this method in version 7.0.39.
Affected software
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| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | < 7.0.39 | 7.0.39 |
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-2185
- https://github.com/apache/tomcat
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/24/12
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1193.html
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1194.html
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1265.html
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/09/05/4
- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-502- Platform
- Java / Kotlin (Maven)
- Package
org.apache.tomcat:tomcat- Disclosed
- 17.05.2022
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 12:21
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-v6c7-8qx5-8gmp - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: org.apache.tomcat:tomcat
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 162
- First → latest
- 12.2018 08.2026
- Without a fix
- 20
- Exploited in attacks
- 1
Severity breakdown
- Critical 8
- High 40
- Medium 102
- Low 12
Disclosures per year
- 2018: 1
- 2019: 1
- 2020: 2
- 2021: 5
- 2022: 125
- 2023: 3
- 2024: 2
- 2025: 4
- 2026: 19
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