CVE-2023-46589 — tomcat-catalina
HIGHCVE-2023-46589 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-444 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: HTTP request smuggling via malformed trailer headers
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-2023-46589.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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-2023-46589 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 377,238 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina☕org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core☕org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core☕org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core☕org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-coreReal-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
Improper Input Validation vulnerability in Apache Tomcat.Tomcat from 11.0.0-M1 through 11.0.0-M10, from 10.1.0-M1 through 10.1.15, from 9.0.0-M1 through 9.0.82 and from 8.5.0 through 8.5.95 did not correctly parse HTTP trailer headers. A trailer header that exceeded the header size limit could cause Tomcat to treat a single request as multiple requests leading to the possibility of request smuggling when behind a reverse proxy.
Older, EOL versions may also be affected.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 11.0.0-M11 onwards, 10.1.16 onwards, 9.0.83 onwards or 8.5.96 onwards, which fix the issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | ≥ 11.0.0-M1&&< 11.0.0-M11 | 11.0.0-M11org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:11.0.0-M11 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | ≥ 10.1.0-M1&&< 10.1.16 | 10.1.16org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:10.1.16 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | ≥ 9.0.0-M1&&< 9.0.83 | 9.0.83org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:9.0.83 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina | ≥ 8.5.0&&< 8.5.96 | 8.5.96org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-catalina:8.5.96 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core | ≥ 11.0.0-M1&&< 11.0.0-M11 | 11.0.0-M11org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core:11.0.0-M11 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core | ≥ 10.1.0-M1&&< 10.1.16 | 10.1.16org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core:10.1.16 |
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-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-M11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-46589 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-2023-46589 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-46589. 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.
This vulnerability in Apache Tomcat is of significant importance due to its potential to exploit HTTP request smuggling, presenting a security risk for web applications utilizing Tomcat. The flaw arises from Tomcat's improper parsing of HTTP trailer headers, where a specifically crafted header exceeding the size limit…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| JWS 5.7.8 | tomcat | RHSA-2024:1319 |
| JWS 6.0.1 | tomcat | RHSA-2024:1325 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | tomcat-1:9.0.62-27.el8_9.3 | RHSA-2024:0539 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Extended Update Support | tomcat-1:9.0.62-5.el8_8.3 | RHSA-2024:0532 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | tomcat-1:9.0.62-37.el9_3.2 | RHSA-2024:1134 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Extended Update Support | tomcat-1:9.0.62-11.el9_2.4 | RHSA-2024:1092 |
| Red Hat Fuse 7.13.0 | tomcat | RHSA-2024:3354 |
| Red Hat JBoss Web Server 5.7 on RHEL 7 | jws5-tomcat-0:9.0.62-41.redhat_00020.1.el7jws | RHSA-2024:1318 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-46589 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-46589 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.