ResourceLinkFactory.setGlobalContext() is a public method and was accessible by web applications running under a security manager without any checks. This allowed a malicious web application to inject a malicious global context that could in turn be used to disrupt other web applications and/or read and write data owned by other web applications.
External references:
http://seclists.org/bugtraq/2016/Feb/147
Apache Tomcat 6.x before 6.0.45, 7.x before 7.0.68, 8.x before 8.0.31, and 9.x before 9.0.0.M2 does not place org.apache.catalina.manager.StatusManagerServlet on the org/apache/catalina/core/RestrictedServlets.properties list, which allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended SecurityManager restrictions and read arbitrary HTTP requests, and consequently discover session ID values, via a crafted web application.
Directory traversal vulnerability in RequestUtil.java in Apache Tomcat 6.x before 6.0.45, 7.x before 7.0.65, and 8.x before 8.0.27 allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended SecurityManager restrictions and list a parent directory via a /.. (slash dot dot) in a pathname used by a web application in a getResource, getResourceAsStream, or getResourcePaths call, as demonstrated by the $CATALINABASE/webapps directory.
The Mapper component in Apache Tomcat 6.x before 6.0.45, 7.x before 7.0.68, 8.x before 8.0.30, and 9.x before 9.0.0.M2 processes redirects before considering security constraints and Filters, which allows remote attackers to determine the existence of a directory via a URL that lacks a trailing / (slash) character.
It was found that the expression language resolver evaluated expressions within a privileged code section. A malicious web application could use this flaw to bypass security manager protections.
Upstream patches:
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc?view=revision&revision=1644019 http://svn.apache.org/viewvc?view=revision&revision=1645644
External References:
http://tomcat.apache.org/security-6.html#FixedinApacheTomcat6.0.44 http://tomcat.apache.org/security-7.html#FixedinApacheTomcat7.0.59 http://tomcat.apache.org/security-8.html#FixedinApacheTomcat8.0.17
java/org/apache/coyote/http11/filters/ChunkedInputFilter.java in Apache Tomcat 6.x before 6.0.42, 7.x before 7.0.55, and 8.x before 8.0.9 does not properly handle attempts to continue reading data after an error has occurred, which allows remote attackers to conduct HTTP request smuggling attacks or cause a denial of service (resource consumption) by streaming data with malformed chunked transfer coding.
Apache Tomcat before 6.0.40, 7.x before 7.0.54, and 8.x before 8.0.6 does not properly constrain the class loader that accesses the XML parser used with an XSLT stylesheet, which allows remote attackers to (1) read arbitrary files via a crafted web application that provides an XML external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue, or (2) read files associated with different web applications on a single Tomcat instance via a crafted web application.
Integer overflow in java/org/apache/tomcat/util/buf/Ascii.java in Apache Tomcat before 6.0.40, 7.x before 7.0.53, and 8.x before 8.0.4, when operated behind a reverse proxy, allows remote attackers to conduct HTTP request smuggling attacks via a crafted Content-Length HTTP header.
It was found that the org.apache.catalina.servlets.DefaultServlet implementation in Apache Tomcat allowed the definition of XXEs in provided XSLTs. A malicious application could use this to circumvent security restrictions to disclose sensitive information.
Apache Tomcat did not limit the length of chunk sizes when using chunked transfer coding. A remote attacker could use this flaw to perform a denial of service attack against Tomcat, by streaming an unlimited quantity of data, leading to consumption of server resources.
Apache Tomcat before 6.0.39, 7.x before 7.0.50, and 8.x before 8.0.0-RC10 allows attackers to obtain "Tomcat internals" information by leveraging the presence of an untrusted web application with a context.xml, web.xml, .jspx, .tagx, or .tld XML document containing an external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue.
Unrestricted file upload vulnerability in Apache Tomcat 7.x before 7.0.40, in certain situations involving outdated java.io.File code and a custom JMX configuration, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by uploading and accessing a JSP file.
Apache Tomcat before 6.0.39, 7.x before 7.0.47, and 8.x before 8.0.0-RC3, when an HTTP connector or AJP connector is used, does not properly handle certain inconsistent HTTP request headers, which allows remote attackers to trigger incorrect identification of a request's length and conduct request-smuggling attacks via (1) multiple Content-Length headers or (2) a Content-Length header and a "Transfer-Encoding: chunked" header. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2005-2090.
Apache Tomcat before 6.0.39, 7.x before 7.0.50, and 8.x before 8.0.0-RC10 processes chunked transfer coding without properly handling (1) a large total amount of chunked data or (2) whitespace characters in an HTTP header value within a trailer field, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service by streaming data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2012-3544.
A session fixation flaw was found in the way FormAuthenticator module of Apache Tomcat, an Apache Servlet/JSP Engine, performed authentication requests management in certain circumstances (the most recent authentication request was associated with current user's session). An attacker could use this flaw to inject (and possibly successfully to complete) an authentication request, that would be executed using the credentials of the victim.
Relevant upstream patch: for Apache Tomcat 6.x: http://svn.apache.org/viewvc?view=revision&revision=1417891 for Apache Tomcat 7.x: http://svn.apache.org/viewvc?view=rev&rev=1408044
The HTTP Digest Access Authentication implementation in Apache Tomcat 5.5.x before 5.5.36, 6.x before 6.0.36, and 7.x before 7.0.30 caches information about the authenticated user within the session state, which makes it easier for remote attackers to bypass authentication via vectors related to the session ID.
The HTTP Digest Access Authentication implementation in Apache Tomcat 5.5.x before 5.5.36, 6.x before 6.0.36, and 7.x before 7.0.30 does not properly check for stale nonce values in conjunction with enforcement of proper credentials, which makes it easier for remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions by sniffing the network for valid requests.
The replay-countermeasure functionality in the HTTP Digest Access Authentication implementation in Apache Tomcat 5.5.x before 5.5.36, 6.x before 6.0.36, and 7.x before 7.0.30 tracks cnonce (aka client nonce) values instead of nonce (aka server nonce) and nc (aka nonce-count) values, which makes it easier for remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions by sniffing the network for valid requests, a different vulnerability than CVE-2011-1184.
org/apache/catalina/filters/CsrfPreventionFilter.java in Apache Tomcat 6.x before 6.0.36 and 7.x before 7.0.32 allows remote attackers to bypass the cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection mechanism via a request that lacks a session identifier.
java/org/apache/coyote/http11/InternalNioInputBuffer.java in the HTTP NIO connector in Apache Tomcat 6.x before 6.0.36 and 7.x before 7.0.28 does not properly restrict the request-header size, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via a large amount of header data.
Apache Tomcat 5.5.x before 5.5.35, 6.x before 6.0.34, and 7.x before 7.0.23 uses an inefficient approach for handling parameters, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a request that contains many parameters and parameter values, a different vulnerability than CVE-2011-4858.