CVE-2008-5515 Directory Traversal in Apache Tomcat

What is CVE-2008-5515?

CVE-2008-5515 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Apache Tomcat, published on 16 Jun 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Apache Tomcat 4.1.0 through 4.1.39, 5.5.0 through 5.5.27, 6.0.0 through 6.0.18, and possibly earlier versions normalizes the target pathname before filtering the query string when using the RequestDispatcher method, which allows remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions and conduct directory traversal attacks via .. (dot dot) sequences and the WEB-INF directory in a Request.

Weakness: CWE-22

Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-5515?

6 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.tomcat:tomcat. It affects 1 product.

Products include Apache Tomcat.

How do I fix CVE-2008-5515?

Upgrade org.apache.tomcat:tomcat to a fixed version for your release line: 4.1.40, 5.5.28 or 6.0.20.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2008-5515 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-5515 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Apache Tomcat

• CVE-2025-24813 Apache Tomcat Path Equivalence Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2016-8735 Apache Tomcat Remote Code Execution Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2017-12617 Apache Tomcat Remote Code Execution Exploited High 8.1
• CVE-2017-12615 Apache Tomcat on Windows Remote Code Execution Exploited High 8.1
• CVE-2026-34486 Apache Tomcat Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data Exploited High 7.5

All Apache Tomcat vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-9737-qmgc-hfr9.