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CRITICAL CISA KEV

CVE-2020-1938

CVSS v3

9.8

CRITICAL

EPSS Score

99.3 %

exploit probability, as of 2026-10-20

CISA KEV

Yes

known exploited

Exploitation

—

SSVC status

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Affected and fixed versions

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-coreMavenfrom 7.0.0 · fixed in 7.0.100
  • tomcatBitnamifrom 7.0.0 · fixed in 7.0.100

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2020-1938 Red Hat Product Security825 products fixed · 5 known affected

    tomcat: Apache Tomcat AJP File Read/Inclusion Vulnerability

    tomcat5.src as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 · jbossweb as a component of Red Hat JBoss Data Grid 6 · opendaylight.src as a component of Red Hat OpenStack Platform 10 (Newton)

  • RHSA-2021:3140 Red Hat Product Security1 product fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Fuse 7.9.0 release and security update

  • ICSMA-21-187-01 CISA4 known affected

    Philips Vue PACS (Update B)

    Vue PACS: Versions 12.2.x.x and prior · Vue Motion: Versions 12.2.1.5 and prior · Vue MyVue: Versions 12.2.x.x and prior

  • RHSA-2020:4847 Red Hat Product Security128 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: pki-core:10.6 and pki-deps:10.6 security, bug fix, and enhancement update

  • RHSA-2020:2840 Red Hat Product Security45 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: tomcat security update

  • RHSA-2020:2783 Red Hat Product Security1 product fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4.23 security update

12 more advisories

Full record on NVD

Description

When using the Apache JServ Protocol (AJP), care must be taken when trusting incoming connections to Apache Tomcat. Tomcat treats AJP connections as having higher trust than, for example, a similar HTTP connection. If such connections are available to an attacker, they can be exploited in ways that may be surprising. In Apache Tomcat 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.0.30, 8.5.0 to 8.5.50 and 7.0.0 to 7.0.99, Tomcat shipped with an AJP Connector enabled by default that listened on all configured IP addresses. It was expected (and recommended in the security guide) that this Connector would be disabled if not required. This vulnerability report identified a mechanism that allowed: - returning arbitrary files from anywhere in the web application - processing any file in the web application as a JSP Further, if the web application allowed file upload and stored those files within the web application (or the attacker was able to control the content of the web application by some other means) then this, along with the ability to process a file as a JSP, made remote code execution possible. It is important to note that mitigation is only required if an AJP port is accessible to untrusted users. Users wishing to take a defence-in-depth approach and block the vector that permits returning arbitrary files and execution as JSP may upgrade to Apache Tomcat 9.0.31, 8.5.51 or 7.0.100 or later. A number of changes were made to the default AJP Connector configuration in 9.0.31 to harden the default configuration. It is likely that users upgrading to 9.0.31, 8.5.51 or 7.0.100 or later will need to make small changes to their configurations.

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Date Added
2022-03-03
Patch Due Date
2022-03-17
Ransomware Use
Unknown

Technical details

Published
2020-02-24

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-1938?

When using the Apache JServ Protocol (AJP), care must be taken when trusting incoming connections to Apache Tomcat. Tomcat treats AJP connections as having higher trust than, for example, a similar HTTP connection. If such connections are available to an attacker, they can be exploited in ways that may be surprising. In Apache Tomcat 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.0.30, 8.5.0 to 8.5.50 and 7.0.0 to 7.0.99, Tomcat shipped with an AJP Connector enabled by default that listened on all configured IP addresses. It was expected (and recommended in the security guide) that this Connector would be disabled if not required. This vulnerability report identified a mechanism that allowed: - returning arbitrary files from anywhere in the web application - processing any file in the web application as a JSP Further, if the web application allowed file upload and stored those files within the web application (or the attacker was able to control the content of the web application by some other means) then this, along with the ability to process a file as a JSP, made remote code execution possible. It is important to note that mitigation is only required if an AJP port is accessible to untrusted users. Users wishing to take a defence-in-depth approach and block the vector that permits returning arbitrary files and execution as JSP may upgrade to Apache Tomcat 9.0.31, 8.5.51 or 7.0.100 or later. A number of changes were made to the default AJP Connector configuration in 9.0.31 to harden the default configuration. It is likely that users upgrading to 9.0.31, 8.5.51 or 7.0.100 or later will need to make small changes to their configurations.

Is CVE-2020-1938 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-1938 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it has been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. CISA requires federal agencies to patch by 2022-03-17.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-1938?

CVE-2020-1938 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity).

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