Improper Access Control in Apache Tomcat
Apache Tomcat 7.x through 7.0.70 and 8.x through 8.5.4, when the CGI Servlet is enabled, follows RFC 3875 section 4.1.18 and therefore does not protect applications from the presence of untrusted client data in the HTTP_PROXY environment variable, which might allow remote attackers to redirect an application's outbound HTTP traffic to an arbitrary proxy server via a crafted Proxy header in an HTTP request, aka an "httpoxy" issue. NOTE: the vendor states "A mitigation is planned for future releases of Tomcat, tracked as CVE-2016-5388"; in other words, this is not a CVE ID for a vulnerability.
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | >= 7.0.0, < 7.0.72, >= 8.0.0, < 8.5.5 | 7.0.72, 8.5.5 |
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-5388
- https://github.com/apache/tomcat/commit/1b91e91194a095ea922f96d1dccddf6fbc446e54
- https://github.com/apache/tomcat/commit/880250877b0643956435282afb9c111450cfff4c
- https://github.com/apache/tomcat/commit/fb3569fbb9a2f55459aa8e1e22bc35a737e66329
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1624
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/6d3d34adcf3dfc48e36342aa1f18ce3c20bb8e4c458a97508d5bfed1@%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r2853582063cfd9e7fbae1e029ae004e6a83482ae9b70a698996353dd%40%3Cusers.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r2853582063cfd9e7fbae1e029ae004e6a83482ae9b70a698996353dd@%3Cusers.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rc6b2147532416cc736e68a32678d3947b7053c3085cf43a9874fd102%40%3Cusers.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rc6b2147532416cc736e68a32678d3947b7053c3085cf43a9874fd102@%3Cusers.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf21b368769ae70de4dee840a3228721ae442f1d51ad8742003aefe39%40%3Cusers.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf21b368769ae70de4dee840a3228721ae442f1d51ad8742003aefe39@%3Cusers.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/08/msg00015.html
- https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-09/msg00025.html
- https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1624.html
- https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2045.html
- https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2046.html
- https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-7.0-doc/changelog.html
- https://www.apache.org/security/asf-httpoxy-response.txt
- https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/797896
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1635
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1636
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:2045
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:2046
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-5388
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1353809
- https://github.com/apache/tomcat
- https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbhf03770en_us
- https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/kb/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c05320149
- https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/kb/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c05324759
- https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/kb/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c05390722
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/053d9ce4d579b02203db18545fee5e33f35f2932885459b74d1e4272%40%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/053d9ce4d579b02203db18545fee5e33f35f2932885459b74d1e4272@%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/6b414817c2b0bf351138911c8c922ec5dd577ebc0b9a7f42d705752d%40%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/6b414817c2b0bf351138911c8c922ec5dd577ebc0b9a7f42d705752d@%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/6d3d34adcf3dfc48e36342aa1f18ce3c20bb8e4c458a97508d5bfed1%40%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-284- Platform
- Java / Kotlin (Maven)
- Package
org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina- Disclosed
- 13.05.2022
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 12:21
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-v646-rx6w-r3qq - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina
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
- 41
- First → latest
- 05.2019 08.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 3
Severity breakdown
- Critical 9
- High 16
- Medium 11
- Low 5
Disclosures per year
- 2019: 1
- 2020: 1
- 2021: 0
- 2022: 8
- 2023: 6
- 2024: 3
- 2025: 11
- 2026: 11
-
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