CVE-2017-15706 Inconsistent documentation in Apache Tomcat

What is CVE-2017-15706?

CVE-2017-15706 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apache Tomcat, published on 31 Jan 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

As part of the fix for bug 61201, the documentation for Apache Tomcat 9.0.0.M22 to 9.0.1, 8.5.16 to 8.5.23, 8.0.45 to 8.0.47 and 7.0.79 to 7.0.82 included an updated description of the search algorithm used by the CGI Servlet to identify which script to execute. The update was not correct. As a result, some scripts may have failed to execute as expected and other scripts may have been executed unexpectedly. Note that the behaviour of the CGI servlet has remained unchanged in this regard. It is only the documentation of the behaviour that was wrong and has been corrected.

Weakness: CWE-358

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-15706?

8 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-2017-15706?

Upgrade org.apache.tomcat:tomcat to a fixed version for your release line: 7.0.84, 8.0.48, 8.5.24 or 9.0.2.

Is CVE-2017-15706 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-15706 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-372q-33vh-8mpc.