OS Command Injection in Apache Tomcat - CVE-2019-0232

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the target system.

The vulnerability exists due to an input validation error within the CGI Servlet when passing arguments from JRE to the Windows environment. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted request to the CGI Servlet, inject and execute arbitrary OS commands on the system with Apache Tomcat privileges.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability requires that Apache Tomcat is installed on Windows operating system with enabled option “enableCmdLineArguments” (CGI Servlet and “enableCmdLineArguments” option are disabled by default).

Affected software

How to mitigate CVE-2019-0232

Links to Public Exploits and PoC-codes

• Exploit #11194 - CVE-2019-0232_tomcat_cgi_exploit () (March 7, 2025)
• Exploit #6007 - Apache Tomcat - CGIServlet enableCmdLineArguments Remote Code Execution (Metasploit) (June 17, 2021)
• Exploit #1525 - Apache Tomcat CGIServlet enableCmdLineArguments Vulnerability (March 18, 2020)

External References

• http://tomcat.apache.org/security-9.html#Fixed_in_Apache_Tomcat_9.0.19
• http://tomcat.apache.org/security-8.html#Fixed_in_Apache_Tomcat_8.5.40
• http://tomcat.apache.org/security-7.html#Fixed_in_Apache_Tomcat_7.0.94

Related Security Bulletins

• Remote code execution in Apache Tomcat
• Amazon Linux AMI update for tomcat8
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• Multiple vulnerabilities in Instantis EnterpriseTrack
• Multiple vulnerabilities in Oracle Retail Order Broker
• OS Command Injection in Oracle Transportation Management