CVE-2009-2902 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') in Apache Tomcat

What is CVE-2009-2902?

CVE-2009-2902 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Apache Tomcat, published on 28 Jan 2010. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Directory traversal vulnerability in Apache Tomcat 5.5.0 through 5.5.28 and 6.0.0 through 6.0.20 allows remote attackers to delete work-directory files via directory traversal sequences in a WAR filename, as demonstrated by the ...war filename.

Weakness: CWE-22

Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-2902?

4 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-2009-2902?

Upgrade org.apache.tomcat:tomcat to a fixed version for your release line: 5.5.29 or 6.0.24.

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

Is CVE-2009-2902 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-2902 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-8wch-9gcg-v2pr.