CVE-2026-34500 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Improper Authentication vulnerability in org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm. A fix is available for org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Apache Tomcat: OCSP checks sometimes soft-fail with FFM even when soft-fail is disabled
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-2026-34500.
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-2026-34500 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 377,636 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-coyote-ffm☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm☕org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffmReal-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
CLIENT_CERT authentication does not fail as expected for some scenarios when soft fail is disabled and FFM is used in Apache Tomcat.
This issue affects Apache Tomcat: from 11.0.0-M14 through 11.0.20, from 10.1.22 through 10.1.53, from 9.0.92 through 9.0.116.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 11.0.21, 10.1.54 or 9.0.117, which fixes the issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm | ≥ 9.0.92&&< 9.0.117 | 9.0.117org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm:9.0.117 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm | ≥ 10.1.22&&< 10.1.54 | 10.1.54org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm:10.1.54 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm | ≥ 11.0.0-M14&&< 11.0.21 | 11.0.21org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm:11.0.21 |
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-coyote-ffm, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-coyote-ffm to 9.0.117 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-34500 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-2026-34500 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-34500. 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 flaw is rated Moderate rather than Important flaw because its impact is highly conditional and configuration-dependent, not broadly exploitable. The issue only manifests when CLIENT_CERT authentication, OCSP revocation checking, and soft-fail disabled are all explicitly configured, and even then only along…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | tomcat9-1:9.0.117-2.el10_2 | RHSA-2026:36790 |
| Red Hat JBoss Web Server 6.2.3 | tomcat | RHSA-2026:20406 |
| Red Hat JBoss Web Server 6.2 on RHEL 10 | jws6-tomcat-0:10.1.49-13.redhat_00011.1.el10jws | RHSA-2026:20405 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-34500 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-34500 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.