CVE-2019-0232 Apache Tomcat OS Command Injection vulnerability

What is CVE-2019-0232?

CVE-2019-0232 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Apache Tomcat, published on 15 Apr 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

When running on Windows with enableCmdLineArguments enabled, the CGI Servlet in Apache Tomcat 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.17, 8.5.0 to 8.5.39 and 7.0.0 to 7.0.93 is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution due to a bug in the way the JRE passes command line arguments to Windows. The CGI Servlet is disabled by default. The CGI option enableCmdLineArguments is disable by default in Tomcat 9.0.x (and will be disabled by default in all versions in response to this vulnerability). For a detailed explanation of the JRE behaviour, see Markus Wulftange's blog (https://codewhitesec.blogspot.com/2016/02/java-and-command-line-injections-in-windows.html) and this archived MSDN blog (https://web.archive.org/web/20161228144344/https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/twistylittlepassagesallalike/2011/04/23/everyone-quotes-command-line-arguments-the-wrong-way/).

Weakness: CWE-78

Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-0232?

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

Products include Apache Tomcat.

How do I fix CVE-2019-0232?

Upgrade org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core to a fixed version for your release line: 7.0.94, 8.5.40 or 9.0.17.

Upgrade, and pass arguments to programs as a list instead of through a shell. More about Command injection.

Is CVE-2019-0232 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2019-0232 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module, 1 Exploit-DB entry, 1 Nuclei template and 15 proofs of concept on GitHub.

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-8vmx-qmch-mpqg.