How severe is CVE-2015-5174?

CVE-2015-5174 has a CVSS score of 4.3/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2015-5174?

CVE-2015-5174 affects the following packages: org.apache.tomcat:tomcat (Maven), org.apache.tomcat:tomcat (Maven), org.apache.tomcat:tomcat (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2015-5174?

Update org.apache.tomcat:tomcat to 8.0.27 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2015-5174 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2015-5174 in my Maven dependencies?

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.

How do I mitigate CVE-2015-5174 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2015-5174?

O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2015-5174 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Is CVE-2015-5174 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2015-5174 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2015-5174?

CVE-2015-5174 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 13.9%, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score warrants monitoring and prompt remediation.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2015-5174?

CVE-2015-5174 is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2015-5174 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2015-5174 was published on May 14, 2022 and was last updated on August 28, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕

☕ Maven

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2015-5174 — tomcat

MEDIUM

CVE-2015-5174 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) Path Traversal vulnerability in org.apache.tomcat:tomcat. EPSS puts its 30-day exploitation probability at 13.9% (96th percentile). A fix is available for org.apache.tomcat:tomcat — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory in Apache Tomcat

Published

May 14, 2022

Updated

Aug 28, 2025

Affected

3 pkgs

Patched

3 / 3

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Sep 21, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

13.9%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Moderate Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs96th percentile — riskier than 96% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2015-5174 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 10–50% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.

Real-World Exposure

3 pkgs affected

☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat

Real-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

Directory traversal vulnerability in RequestUtil.java in Apache Tomcat 6.x before 6.0.45, 7.x before 7.0.65, and 8.x before 8.0.27 allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended SecurityManager restrictions and list a parent directory via a /.. (slash dot dot) in a pathname used by a web application in a getResource, getResourceAsStream, or getResourcePaths call, as demonstrated by the $CATALINA_BASE/webapps directory.

Affected Packages

3 total 3 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat`	≥ 8.0.0-RC1&&< 8.0.27	8.0.27`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:8.0.27`
☕Maven	`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat`	≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.0.65	7.0.65`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:7.0.65`
☕Maven	`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat`	≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.0.45	6.0.45`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat:6.0.45`

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
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 8.0.27 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2015-5174 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2015-5174 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to CVE-2015-5174. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

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 HatLow

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	`tomcat6-0:6.0.24-98.el6_8`	RHSA-2016:2045
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	`tomcat-0:7.0.69-10.el7`	RHSA-2016:2599
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4	see advisory	RHSA-2016:1435
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 6	`jboss-ec2-eap-0:7.5.9-2.Final_redhat_2.ep6.el6`	RHSA-2016:1432
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 6	`apache-cxf-0:2.7.18-2.SP1_redhat_1.1.ep6.el6`	RHSA-2016:1433
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 7	`apache-cxf-0:2.7.18-2.SP1_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7`	RHSA-2016:1434
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2 for RHEL 5	`tomcat7-0:7.0.54-21_patch_05.ep6.el5`	RHBA-2016:0090
Red Hat JBoss Web Server 3.0	see advisory	RHSA-2015:2661

UbuntuMEDIUM

USN-3024-1Ubuntu

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2015-5174 in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds CVE-2015-5174 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works