CVE-2016-1240 (GCVE-0-2016-1240)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2016-10-03 00:00 – Updated: 2024-08-05 22:48
VLAI
Summary
The Tomcat init script in the tomcat7 package before 7.0.56-3+deb8u4 and tomcat8 package before 8.0.14-1+deb8u3 on Debian jessie and the tomcat6 and libtomcat6-java packages before 6.0.35-1ubuntu3.8 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, the tomcat7 and libtomcat7-java packages before 7.0.52-1ubuntu0.7 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and tomcat8 and libtomcat8-java packages before 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS allows local users with access to the tomcat account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the Catalina log file, as demonstrated by /var/log/tomcat7/catalina.out.
Severity
7.8 (High)
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE
  • n/a
Assigner
debian CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard – unranked: 2 records in the last 180 days, 10 needed details
References
Date Public
2016-09-15 00:00
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2024-08-05T22:48:13.696Z",
          "orgId": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
          "shortName": "CVE"
        },
        "references": [
          {
            "name": "1036845",
            "tags": [
              "vdb-entry",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036845"
          },
          {
            "name": "DSA-3670",
            "tags": [
              "vendor-advisory",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3670"
          },
          {
            "name": "GLSA-201705-09",
            "tags": [
              "vendor-advisory",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201705-09"
          },
          {
            "tags": [
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://legalhackers.com/advisories/Tomcat-DebPkgs-Root-Privilege-Escalation-Exploit-CVE-2016-1240.html"
          },
          {
            "name": "93263",
            "tags": [
              "vdb-entry",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93263"
          },
          {
            "name": "RHSA-2017:0457",
            "tags": [
              "vendor-advisory",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0457.html"
          },
          {
            "tags": [
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180731-0002/"
          },
          {
            "name": "40450",
            "tags": [
              "exploit",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40450/"
          },
          {
            "name": "DSA-3669",
            "tags": [
              "vendor-advisory",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3669"
          },
          {
            "name": "RHSA-2017:0455",
            "tags": [
              "vendor-advisory",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0455"
          },
          {
            "name": "20161001 CVE-2016-1240 - Tomcat packaging on Debian-based distros - Local Root Privilege Escalation",
            "tags": [
              "mailing-list",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539519/100/0/threaded"
          },
          {
            "name": "RHSA-2017:0456",
            "tags": [
              "vendor-advisory",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0456"
          },
          {
            "name": "USN-3081-1",
            "tags": [
              "vendor-advisory",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3081-1"
          },
          {
            "tags": [
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/170857/Apache-Tomcat-On-Ubuntu-Log-Init-Privilege-Escalation.html"
          }
        ],
        "title": "CVE Program Container"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "n/a",
          "vendor": "n/a",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "n/a"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "datePublic": "2016-09-15T00:00:00.000Z",
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "The Tomcat init script in the tomcat7 package before 7.0.56-3+deb8u4 and tomcat8 package before 8.0.14-1+deb8u3 on Debian jessie and the tomcat6 and libtomcat6-java packages before 6.0.35-1ubuntu3.8 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, the tomcat7 and libtomcat7-java packages before 7.0.52-1ubuntu0.7 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and tomcat8 and libtomcat8-java packages before 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS allows local users with access to the tomcat account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the Catalina log file, as demonstrated by /var/log/tomcat7/catalina.out."
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "description": "n/a",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "text"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2023-02-06T00:00:00.000Z",
        "orgId": "79363d38-fa19-49d1-9214-5f28da3f3ac5",
        "shortName": "debian"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "1036845",
          "tags": [
            "vdb-entry"
          ],
          "url": "http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036845"
        },
        {
          "name": "DSA-3670",
          "tags": [
            "vendor-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3670"
        },
        {
          "name": "GLSA-201705-09",
          "tags": [
            "vendor-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201705-09"
        },
        {
          "url": "http://legalhackers.com/advisories/Tomcat-DebPkgs-Root-Privilege-Escalation-Exploit-CVE-2016-1240.html"
        },
        {
          "name": "93263",
          "tags": [
            "vdb-entry"
          ],
          "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93263"
        },
        {
          "name": "RHSA-2017:0457",
          "tags": [
            "vendor-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0457.html"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180731-0002/"
        },
        {
          "name": "40450",
          "tags": [
            "exploit"
          ],
          "url": "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40450/"
        },
        {
          "name": "DSA-3669",
          "tags": [
            "vendor-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3669"
        },
        {
          "name": "RHSA-2017:0455",
          "tags": [
            "vendor-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0455"
        },
        {
          "name": "20161001 CVE-2016-1240 - Tomcat packaging on Debian-based distros - Local Root Privilege Escalation",
          "tags": [
            "mailing-list"
          ],
          "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539519/100/0/threaded"
        },
        {
          "name": "RHSA-2017:0456",
          "tags": [
            "vendor-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0456"
        },
        {
          "name": "USN-3081-1",
          "tags": [
            "vendor-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3081-1"
        },
        {
          "url": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/170857/Apache-Tomcat-On-Ubuntu-Log-Init-Privilege-Escalation.html"
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "79363d38-fa19-49d1-9214-5f28da3f3ac5",
    "assignerShortName": "debian",
    "cveId": "CVE-2016-1240",
    "datePublished": "2016-10-03T00:00:00.000Z",
    "dateReserved": "2015-12-27T00:00:00.000Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2024-08-05T22:48:13.696Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.1",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "epss": {
      "cve": "CVE-2016-1240",
      "date": "2026-10-16",
      "epss": "0.09783",
      "percentile": "0.95493"
    },
    "nvd": {
      "cve": {
        "configurations": [
          {
            "nodes": [
              {
                "cpeMatch": [
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "D11D6FB7-CBDB-48C1-98CB-1B3CAA36C5D7",
                    "vulnerable": true
                  },
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "8B0EA906-ABCC-438A-8D52-4F07C0307EC9",
                    "vulnerable": true
                  },
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "E6CE354B-36BE-4280-9D86-E3AC552E6D6D",
                    "vulnerable": true
                  }
                ],
                "negate": false,
                "operator": "OR"
              },
              {
                "cpeMatch": [
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "B6B7CAD7-9D4E-4FDB-88E3-1E583210A01F",
                    "vulnerable": false
                  },
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "B5A6F2F3-4894-4392-8296-3B8DD2679084",
                    "vulnerable": false
                  },
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "F7016A2A-8365-4F1A-89A2-7A19F2BCAE5B",
                    "vulnerable": false
                  }
                ],
                "negate": false,
                "operator": "OR"
              }
            ],
            "operator": "AND"
          },
          {
            "nodes": [
              {
                "cpeMatch": [
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "8B0EA906-ABCC-438A-8D52-4F07C0307EC9",
                    "vulnerable": true
                  },
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:tomcat:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "E6CE354B-36BE-4280-9D86-E3AC552E6D6D",
                    "vulnerable": true
                  }
                ],
                "negate": false,
                "operator": "OR"
              },
              {
                "cpeMatch": [
                  {
                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "matchCriteriaId": "C11E6FB0-C8C0-4527-9AA0-CB9B316F8F43",
                    "vulnerable": false
                  }
                ],
                "negate": false,
                "operator": "OR"
              }
            ],
            "operator": "AND"
          }
        ],
        "cveTags": [],
        "descriptions": [
          {
            "lang": "en",
            "value": "The Tomcat init script in the tomcat7 package before 7.0.56-3+deb8u4 and tomcat8 package before 8.0.14-1+deb8u3 on Debian jessie and the tomcat6 and libtomcat6-java packages before 6.0.35-1ubuntu3.8 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, the tomcat7 and libtomcat7-java packages before 7.0.52-1ubuntu0.7 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and tomcat8 and libtomcat8-java packages before 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS allows local users with access to the tomcat account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the Catalina log file, as demonstrated by /var/log/tomcat7/catalina.out."
          },
          {
            "lang": "es",
            "value": "El inicio de secuencia de comandos de Tomcat en el paquete tomcat7 en versiones anteriores 7.0.56-3+deb8u4 y el paquete tomcat8 en versiones anteriores 8.0.14-1+deb8u3 en Debian jessie y los paquetes tomcat6 y libtomcat6-java en versiones anteriores 6.0.35-1ubuntu3.8 en Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, los paquetes tomcat7 y libtomcat7-java en versiones anteriores 7.0.52-1ubuntu0.7 en Ubuntu 14.04 LTS y los paquetes tomcat8 y libtomcat8-java en versiones anteriores 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.2 en Ubuntu 16.04 LTS permite a usuarios locales con acceso a la cuenta tomcat obtener privilegios de root a trav\u00e9s de un ataque de enlace simb\u00f3lico en archivo de registro Catalina, seg\u00fan lo demostrado por /var/log/tomcat7/catalina.out."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2016-1240",
        "lastModified": "2026-05-06T22:30:45.220",
        "metrics": {
          "cvssMetricV2": [
            {
              "acInsufInfo": false,
              "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
              "cvssData": {
                "accessComplexity": "LOW",
                "accessVector": "LOCAL",
                "authentication": "NONE",
                "availabilityImpact": "COMPLETE",
                "baseScore": 7.2,
                "confidentialityImpact": "COMPLETE",
                "integrityImpact": "COMPLETE",
                "vectorString": "AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C",
                "version": "2.0"
              },
              "exploitabilityScore": 3.9,
              "impactScore": 10.0,
              "obtainAllPrivilege": true,
              "obtainOtherPrivilege": false,
              "obtainUserPrivilege": false,
              "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
              "type": "Primary",
              "userInteractionRequired": false
            }
          ],
          "cvssMetricV30": [
            {
              "cvssData": {
                "attackComplexity": "LOW",
                "attackVector": "LOCAL",
                "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
                "baseScore": 7.8,
                "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
                "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
                "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
                "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
                "scope": "UNCHANGED",
                "userInteraction": "NONE",
                "vectorString": "CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
                "version": "3.0"
              },
              "exploitabilityScore": 1.8,
              "impactScore": 5.9,
              "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
              "type": "Primary"
            }
          ]
        },
        "published": "2016-10-03T15:59:00.207",
        "references": [
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "http://legalhackers.com/advisories/Tomcat-DebPkgs-Root-Privilege-Escalation-Exploit-CVE-2016-1240.html"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/170857/Apache-Tomcat-On-Ubuntu-Log-Init-Privilege-Escalation.html"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0457.html"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "tags": [
              "Third Party Advisory"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3669"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "tags": [
              "Third Party Advisory"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3670"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539519/100/0/threaded"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93263"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "tags": [
              "Third Party Advisory",
              "VDB Entry"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036845"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "tags": [
              "Third Party Advisory"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3081-1"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0455"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0456"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201705-09"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180731-0002/"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@debian.org",
            "url": "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40450/"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "http://legalhackers.com/advisories/Tomcat-DebPkgs-Root-Privilege-Escalation-Exploit-CVE-2016-1240.html"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/170857/Apache-Tomcat-On-Ubuntu-Log-Init-Privilege-Escalation.html"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0457.html"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "tags": [
              "Third Party Advisory"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3669"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "tags": [
              "Third Party Advisory"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3670"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539519/100/0/threaded"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93263"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "tags": [
              "Third Party Advisory",
              "VDB Entry"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036845"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "tags": [
              "Third Party Advisory"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3081-1"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0455"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0456"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201705-09"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180731-0002/"
          },
          {
            "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
            "url": "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40450/"
          }
        ],
        "sourceIdentifier": "security@debian.org",
        "vulnStatus": "Modified",
        "weaknesses": [
          {
            "description": [
              {
                "lang": "en",
                "value": "CWE-20"
              }
            ],
            "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
            "type": "Primary"
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Important",
      "current_release_date": "2026-08-04T18:46:49+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2016-1240",
      "id": "CVE-2016-1240",
      "initial_release_date": "2016-09-15T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:fixed": "99",
      "product_status:known_affected": "16",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "34",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "tomcat: unsafe chown of catalina.log in tomcat init script allows privilege escalation",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2016/cve-2016-1240.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
  }
}



Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.




Drag nodes to arrange them. Double-click a related vulnerability to open it, or a source to visit its link. The Physics button on the left tunes the layout and the simulation; the legend at the bottom left hides or shows nodes by kind and by sighting type.

Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Vulnerability timeline

Sightings and recorded dates, grouped by day · UTC

JSON

Loading timeline…




    Related by attack behaviour

    Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.