CVE-2007-5333 — tomcat
CVE-2007-5333 is a Information Exposure vulnerability in org.apache.tomcat:tomcat. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.apache.tomcat:tomcat — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exposure of Sensitive Information in Apache Tomcat
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.tomcat:tomcat☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcatReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Apache Tomcat 6.0.0 through 6.0.14, 5.5.0 through 5.5.25, and 4.1.0 through 4.1.36 does not properly handle (1) double quote (") characters or (2) %5C (encoded backslash) sequences in a cookie value, which might cause sensitive information such as session IDs to be leaked to remote attackers and enable session hijacking attacks. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2007-3385.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.0.15 | 6.0.15org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:6.0.15 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | ≥ 5.5.0&&< 5.5.26 | 5.5.26org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:5.5.26 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | ≥ 4.1.0&&< 4.1.37 | 4.1.37org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:4.1.37 |
Affected Products
tomcatapacheResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Apache Tomcat 6.0.15 - Cookie Quote Handling Remote Information Disclosure
by John Kew · Feb 9, 2008
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.tomcat:tomcat, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.tomcat:tomcat to 6.0.15 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2007-5333 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Red Hat is aware of this issue and is tracking it via the following bug: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2007-5333 The Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having low security impact, a future update may address this flaw.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| JBEWS 1.0 for RHEL 4 | tomcat5-0:5.5.23-1.patch07.19.ep5.el4 | RHSA-2009:1454 |
| Red Hat Certificate System 7.3 | ant-0:1.6.5-1jpp_1rh | RHSA-2010:0602 |
| Red Hat Developer Suite V.3 | tomcat5-0:5.5.23-0jpp_18rh | RHSA-2009:1563 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | tomcat5-0:5.5.23-0jpp.7.el5_3.2 | RHSA-2009:1164 |
| Red Hat Network Satellite Server v 5.2 | tomcat5-0:5.5.23-0jpp_18rh | RHSA-2009:1616 |
| RHAPS Version 2 for RHEL 4 | tomcat5-0:5.5.23-0jpp_4rh.16 | RHSA-2009:1562 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2007-5333 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.