TomcatWeb server / proxy · Apache
CVE-2016-6325
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Tomcat package on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 through 7, JBoss Web Server 3.0, and JBoss EWS 2 uses weak permissions for (1) /etc/sysconfig/tomcat and (2) /etc/tomcat/tomcat.conf, which allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging membership in the tomcat group.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Tomcat package on RHEL 5-7, JBoss Web Server 3.0, and JBoss EWS 2 uses weak file permissions (likely world-readable or group-writable) on configuration files /etc/sysconfig/tomcat and /etc/tomcat/tomcat.conf. Local users with tomcat group membership can modify these configuration files to escalate privileges to root or the tomcat user account.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
TomcatWeb server / proxy
all versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if Tomcat configuration files existRun: ls -la /etc/sysconfig/tomcat /etc/tomcat/tomcat.conf 2>/dev/nullAffected if Either file exists on the system
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Verify permissions on /etc/sysconfig/tomcatRun: stat -c '%a %U:%G' /etc/sysconfig/tomcat 2>/dev/nullAffected if Permissions are 644 (world-readable) or include group write (664, 775, 776) or other write (666, 777)
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Verify permissions on /etc/tomcat/tomcat.confRun: stat -c '%a %U:%G' /etc/tomcat/tomcat.conf 2>/dev/nullAffected if Permissions are 644 (world-readable) or include group write (664, 775, 776) or other write (666, 777)
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Check if current user has tomcat group accessRun: id or groups | grep tomcatAffected if Current user is a member of the tomcat group
Environment is affected if either /etc/sysconfig/tomcat or /etc/tomcat/tomcat.conf is world-readable or group-writable AND the user is in the tomcat group, allowing privilege escalation via configuration modification.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataRestrict permissions on /etc/sysconfig/tomcat and /etc/tomcat/tomcat.conf to owner-only (600) or owner-group (640) with root:tomcat ownership, removing write access from the tomcat group. Verify no other Tomcat configuration files have similar weak permissions.
Fix this in Tomcat
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6325 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-6325 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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