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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2020-11996

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2020-06-26

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

A specially crafted sequence of HTTP/2 requests sent to Apache Tomcat 10.0.0-M1 to 10.0.0-M5, 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.35 and 8.5.0 to 8.5.55 could trigger high CPU usage for several seconds. If a sufficient number of such requests were made on concurrent HTTP/2 connections, the server could become unresponsive.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2020-06-2617:15CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2026-10-2319:23First public proof of conceptPoC-in-GitHub
  3. 2026-10-2319:23EPSS crossed 10 %FIRST EPSS

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2020-11996?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2020-11996?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD · OSV
Apache Tomcat
BranchAffectedFixed in
8.5≥ 8.5.0, ≤ 8.5.55no fix published
9.0≥ 9.0.0, ≤ 9.0.35no fix published
9.0= 9.0.0no fix published
10.0= 10.0.0no fix published
Oracle workload manager
BranchAffectedFixed in
12.2= 12.2.0.1no fix published
18.x= 18cno fix published
19.x= 19cno fix published
tomcat
BranchAffectedFixed in
10.0≥ 10.0.0-M1, < 10.0.0-M510.0.0-M5
9.0≥ 9.0.0.M1, < 9.0.359.0.35
8.5≥ 8.5.0, < 8.5.558.5.55

8 more products in the sources.

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-10-23 19:23 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
1 repository, unverifiedrusakovichma/tomcat-embed-core-9.0.31-CVE-2020-11996
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2020-06-26
Last Modified
2026-10-08
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-11996?

A specially crafted sequence of HTTP/2 requests sent to Apache Tomcat 10.0.0-M1 to 10.0.0-M5, 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.35 and 8.5.0 to 8.5.55 could trigger high CPU usage for several seconds. If a sufficient number of such requests were made on concurrent HTTP/2 connections, the server could become unresponsive.

Is CVE-2020-11996 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2020-11996 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 26.7% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-11996?

CVE-2020-11996 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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