How severe is CVE-2023-28708?

CVE-2023-28708 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-2023-28708?

CVE-2023-28708 affects the following packages: org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina (Maven), org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina (Maven), org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina (Maven), org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2023-28708?

Update org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina to 11.0.0-M3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-28708 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-28708 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-28708 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.

Is CVE-2023-28708 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-28708 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-2023-28708?

CVE-2023-28708 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.8%, placing it in the 79th 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 indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-28708?

CVE-2023-28708 is classified as CWE-523 (CWE-523). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-28708 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-28708 was published on March 22, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. 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-2023-28708 — tomcat-catalina

MEDIUMFix: apache/tomcat@3b51230

CVE-2023-28708 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) CWE-523 vulnerability in org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina. A fix is available for org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Apache Tomcat: JSESSIONID Cookie missing secure attribute in some configurations

Also known asBIT-tomcat-2023-28708GHSA-2c9m-w27f-53rm

Published

Mar 22, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

4 pkgs

Patched

4 / 4

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 2, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

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-2023-28708.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs79th percentile — riskier than 79% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

4 pkgs affected

☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina

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

When using the RemoteIpFilter with requests received from a reverse proxy via HTTP that include the X-Forwarded-Proto header set to https, session cookies created by Apache Tomcat 11.0.0-M1 to 11.0.0.-M2, 10.1.0-M1 to 10.1.5, 9.0.0-M1 to 9.0.71 and 8.5.0 to 8.5.85 did not include the secure attribute. This could result in the user agent transmitting the session cookie over an insecure channel.

Older, EOL versions may also be affected.

Affected Packages

4 total 4 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina`	≥ 11.0.0-M1&&< 11.0.0-M3	11.0.0-M3`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:11.0.0-M3`
☕Maven	`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina`	≥ 10.1.0-M1&&< 10.1.6	10.1.6`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:10.1.6`
☕Maven	`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina`	≥ 9.0.0-M1&&< 9.0.72	9.0.72`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:9.0.72`
☕Maven	`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina`	≥ 8.5.0&&< 8.5.86	8.5.86`org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:8.5.86`

Affected Products

1 product · 5 configurations

Application

tomcatapache

≥ 8.5.0 && < 10.1.6

1 version

11.0.0

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-catalina, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina to 11.0.0-M3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-28708 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.

Red HatModerate

CVE-2023-28708 only potentially impacts a Tomcat configuration using a RemoteIpFilter behind a proxy or loadbalancer that sets an X-Forwarded-Proto request header with a value of https. If you do not use RemoteIpFilter in such a configuration, then the vulnerability would not have any impact on you Red Hat Satellite…

Workaround published by Red Hat

For possible impact and workaround, please refer to: https://access.redhat.com/solutions/7004796

Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2023-28708 (CC BY 4.0)

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
JWS 5.7.4 release	`jws5-tomcat`	RHSA-2023:4910
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	`tomcat-1:9.0.62-27.el8_9`	RHSA-2023:7065
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Extended Update Support	`tomcat-1:9.0.87-1.el8_8.2`	RHSA-2024:3814
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9	`tomcat-1:9.0.62-37.el9_3`	RHSA-2023:6570
Red Hat JBoss Web Server 5.7 on RHEL 7	`jws5-tomcat-0:9.0.62-15.redhat_00013.1.el7jws`	RHSA-2023:4909

UbuntuMEDIUM

USN-7106-1Ubuntu USN-7562-1Ubuntu

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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