GHSA-vfww-5hm6-hx2j BIT-tomcat-2025-55754 CVE-2025-55754
Apache Tomcat Vulnerable to Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences
Critical
Maven
- Severity
- 0.0 / 10
- Critical · CVSS 4.0
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- 10.17%
- Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 95.66% of scored vulnerabilities.
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Weakness
- CWE-150 Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences
- Fix
- Available
- 3 packages have a fixed version
Description
Tomcat did not escape ANSI escape sequences in log messages. If Tomcat was running in a console on a Windows operating system, and the console supported ANSI escape sequences, it was possible for an attacker to use a specially crafted URL to inject ANSI escape sequences to manipulate the console and the clipboard and attempt to trick an administrator into running an attacker controlled command. While no attack vector was found, it may have been possible to mount this attack on other operating systems.
This issue affects Apache Tomcat: from 11.0.0-M1 through 11.0.10, from 10.1.0-M1 through 10.1.44, from 9.0.40 through 9.0.108.
The following versions were EOL at the time the CVE was created but are known to be affected: 8.5.60 though 8.5.100. Other, older, EOL versions may also be affected. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 11.0.11 or later, 10.1.45 or later or 9.0.109 or later, which fix the issue.
Affected versions
Maven
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core | >= 11.0.0-M1, < 11.0.11 |
11.0.11 |
| org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core | >= 10.1.0-M1, < 10.1.45 |
10.1.45 |
| org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core | >= 9.0.40, < 9.0.109 |
9.0.109 |
| org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core | >= 8.5.60, <= 8.5.100 |
No fix yet |
| org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | >= 11.0.0-M1, < 11.0.11 |
11.0.11 |
| org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | >= 10.1.0-M1, < 10.1.45 |
10.1.45 |
| org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | >= 9.0.40, < 9.0.109 |
9.0.109 |
| org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | >= 8.5.60, <= 8.5.100 |
No fix yet |
| org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | >= 11.0.0-M1, < 11.0.11 |
11.0.11 |
| org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | >= 10.1.0-M1, < 10.1.45 |
10.1.45 |
| org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | >= 9.0.40, < 9.0.109 |
9.0.109 |
| org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | >= 8.5.60, <= 8.5.100 |
No fix yet |
How to fix
Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.
org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core Maven → 11.0.11
- maven
<dependency><groupId>org.apache.tomcat.embed</groupId><artifactId>tomcat-embed-core</artifactId><version>11.0.11</version></dependency>- gradle
implementation("org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core:11.0.11")
org.apache.tomcat:tomcat Maven → 11.0.11
- maven
<dependency><groupId>org.apache.tomcat</groupId><artifactId>tomcat</artifactId><version>11.0.11</version></dependency>- gradle
implementation("org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:11.0.11")
org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina Maven → 11.0.11
- maven
<dependency><groupId>org.apache.tomcat</groupId><artifactId>tomcat-catalina</artifactId><version>11.0.11</version></dependency>- gradle
implementation("org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:11.0.11")
Severity breakdown
CVSS 4.0 0.0
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Active
- Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
- Low
- Integrity (vulnerable system)
- Low
- Availability (vulnerable system)
- Low
- Confidentiality (subsequent systems)
- None
- Integrity (subsequent systems)
- None
- Availability (subsequent systems)
- None
CVSS 3.1 9.6
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Weakness
CWE-150: Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences
The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as escape, meta, or control character sequences when they are sent to a downstream component.
How to prevent it
- Developers should anticipate that escape, meta and control characters/sequences will be injected/removed/manipulated in the input vectors of their product. Use an appropriate combination of denylists and allowlists to ensure only valid, expected and appropriate input is processed by the system.
- Implementation: Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue." Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
- Implementation: While it is risky to use dynamically-generated query strings, code, or commands that mix control and data together, sometimes it may be unavoidable. Properly quote arguments and escape any special characters within those arguments. The most conservative approach is to escape or filter all characters that do not pass an extremely strict allowlist (such as everything that is not alphanumeric or white space). If some special characters are still needed, such as white space, wrap each argument in quotes after the escaping/filtering step. Be careful of argument injection (CWE-88).
- Implementation: Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist validation schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked.
- Implementation: When using output from an LLM, neutralize or strip escape codes before redirecting output to the terminal or other rendering engine that would process the codes. The neutralization could require that the character be printable and/or allowable whitespace, such as a carriage return or newline. Be deliberate about what to allow.
- Build and Compilation: When using an LLM: during tokenizer training, suppress escape codes from the tokenizer's vocabulary. Depending on context, this could be accomplished by removing the codes from input to the tokenizer, or removing the map from the string to its token ID. It is generally unlikely that this removal would adversely affect the quality or correctness of what is generated, e.g. advice requests for terminal settings to change colors.
References
Advisories
Packages
Other links
- github.com/apache/tomcat/commit/138d7f5cfaae683078948303333c080e6faa75d2
- github.com/apache/tomcat/commit/5a3db092982c0c58d4855304167ee757fe5e79bb
- github.com/apache/tomcat/commit/a03cabf3a36a42d27d8d997ed31f034f50ba6cd5
- cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-032379.html
- lists.apache.org/thread/j7w54hqbkfcn0xb9xy0wnx8w5nymcbqd
- tomcat.apache.org/security-10.html
- tomcat.apache.org/security-11.html
- tomcat.apache.org/security-9.html
- openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/10/27/5
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
- Latest EPSS score
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why it's related |
|---|---|---|
| GHSA-69r9-qgr7-g2wj Apache Tomcat Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data vulnerability | High Known exploited | Also affects org.apache.tomcat:tomcat |
| GHSA-83qj-6fr2-vhqg Apache Tomcat: Potential RCE and/or information disclosure and/or information corruption with partial PUT | Critical Known exploited | Also affects org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core |
| GHSA-qppj-fm5r-hxr3 HTTP/2 Stream Cancellation Attack | Medium Known exploited | Also affects org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core |
| GHSA-xjgh-84hx-56c5 Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type Apache Tomcat | High Known exploited | Also affects org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core |
| GHSA-cw54-59pw-4g8c Apache Tomcat Improper Access Control vulnerability | Critical Known exploited | Also affects org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina |
| CVE-2020-1938 Improper Privilege Management in Tomcat | Critical Known exploited | Also affects org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core |
| GHSA-pjfr-qf3p-3q25 When running Apache Tomcat on Windows with HTTP PUTs enabled it was possible to upload a JSP file to the server | High Known exploited | Also affects org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core |
| GHSA-h3x4-894j-xpx5 Apache Tomcat's FORM authentication process has an Incorrect Authorization vulnerability | Critical | Also affects org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core |
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