CVE-2012-4431 — tomcat
CVE-2012-4431 is a CWE-264 vulnerability in org.apache.tomcat:tomcat. A fix is available for org.apache.tomcat:tomcat — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Cross-Site Request Forgery in Apache Tomcat
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2012-4431.
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: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
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.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.0.36 | 6.0.36org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:6.0.36 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.0.32 | 7.0.32org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:7.0.32 |
Affected Products
tomcatapacheDetection & 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 6.0.36 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-4431 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
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.
This issue did not affect the versions of tomcat5 as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and tomcat6 as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as they did not include the CSRF prevention filter.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| JBoss Data Grid 6.1 | see advisory | RHSA-2013:0665 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.0 | see advisory | RHSA-2013:0648 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 for RHEL 5 | jbossweb-0:7.0.17-4.Final_redhat_3.ep6.el5 | RHSA-2013:0647 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2 for RHEL 5 | tomcat6-0:6.0.35-6_patch_06.ep6.el5 | RHSA-2013:0266 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2 for RHEL 5 | tomcat7-0:7.0.30-3_patch_02.ep6.el5 | RHSA-2013:0268 |
| Red Hat JBoss Operations Network 3.2 | see advisory | RHSA-2013:1853 |
| Red Hat JBoss Portal Platform 6.1 | see advisory | RHSA-2013:1437 |
| Red Hat JBoss Web Server 2.0 | see advisory | RHSA-2013:0265 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2012-4431 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.