CVE-2008-2938
Directory traversal vulnerability in Apache Tomcat 4.1.0 through 4.1.37, 5.5.0 through 5.5.26, and 6.0.0 through 6.0.16, when allowLinking…
- 4.3MediumCVSS base score
- 99.7%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 4Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Directory traversal vulnerability in Apache Tomcat 4.1.0 through 4.1.37, 5.5.0 through 5.5.26, and 6.0.0 through 6.0.16, when allowLinking and UTF-8 are enabled, allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via encoded directory traversal sequences in the URI, a different vulnerability than CVE-2008-2370. NOTE: versions earlier than 6.0.18 were reported affected, but the vendor advisory lists 6.0.16 as the last affected version.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list 2 Metasploit modules and 2 Exploit-DB entries for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit.
Show the exploits5
Metasploit modules2 modules
- Tomcat UTF-8 Directory Traversal Vulnerability (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
auxiliary/admin/http/tomcat_utf8_traversalRank normaldisclosed 9 Jan 2009
- TrendMicro Data Loss Prevention 5.5 Directory Traversal (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
auxiliary/admin/http/trendmicro_dlp_traversalRank normaldisclosed 9 Jan 2009
Exploit-DB2 entries
- Apache Tomcat < 6.0.18 - 'utf8' Directory Traversal (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 14489remote, unixpublished 28 Jul 2010Verified
- Apache Tomcat < 6.0.18 - 'utf8' Directory Traversal (PoC) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 6229remote, multiplepublished 11 Aug 2008Verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 6229 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
- 44 days later
· 44 days later
Published
- 16 years later
· 16 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 2.0 | Medium4.3 | AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 99.7% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (10 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.3.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Mavenorg.apache.tomcat:tomcatGHSA-m7xj-ccqc-p4g2 (opens in a new tab)
References
43
- http://tomcat.apache.org/security-4.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 37297 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- RHSA-2008:0862 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- ADV-2008-2823 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- 31982 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- 31681 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 32120 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- VU#343355 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_CERT-VNx_transferred
- tomcat-allowlinking-utf8-directory-traversal(44411) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_transferred
- 31865 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- FEDORA-2008-8130 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- 31639 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- SUSE-SR:2008:018 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:10587 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entrysignaturex_refsource_OVALx_transferred
- 1020665 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- MDVSA-2008:188 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MANDRIVAx_transferred
- http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2008-401.htm (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- ADV-2009-0320 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- RHSA-2008:0864 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- ADV-2008-2343 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- SUSE-SR:2009:004 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- 6229 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- http://tomcat.apache.org/security-6.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 30633 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 20091107 ToutVirtual VirtualIQ Multiple Vulnerabilities (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 32222 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- 31891 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- 33797 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- 4148 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SREASONx_transferred
- FEDORA-2008-7977 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- 20080811 Apache Tomcat <= 6.0.18 UTF8 Directory Traversal Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- FEDORA-2008-8113 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- http://tomcat.apache.org/security-5.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- ADV-2008-2780 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- HPSBUX02401 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_HPx_transferred
- http://www.securenetwork.it/ricerca/advisory/download/SN-2009-02.txt (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- APPLE-SA-2008-10-09 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_APPLEx_transferred
- http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3216 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 32266 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- RHSA-2008:0648 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- [tomcat-dev] 20190319 svn commit: r1855831 [21/30] - in /tomcat/site/trunk: ./ docs/ xdocs/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- [tomcat-dev] 20190325 svn commit: r1856174 [19/29] - in /tomcat/site/trunk: docs/ xdocs/ xdocs/stylesheets/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- [tomcat-dev] 20200213 svn commit: r1873980 [24/34] - /tomcat/site/trunk/docs/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2022-4516 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-m7xj-ccqc-p4g2 (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
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[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2008-2938)Record last updated .