CVE-2019-17563 — When using FORM authentication with Apache Tomcat 9
When using FORM authentication with Apache Tomcat 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.29, 8.5.0 to 8.5.49 and 7.0.0 to 7.0.98 there was a narrow window where an attacker could perform a session fixation attack. The window was considered too narrow for an exploit to be practical but, erring on the si
Published
2019-12-23T17:15:11.803
Last modified
2026-10-08T21:17:17.253
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
01What is this vulnerability?
When using FORM authentication with Apache Tomcat 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.29, 8.5.0 to 8.5.49 and 7.0.0 to 7.0.98 there was a narrow window where an attacker could perform a session fixation attack. The window was considered too narrow for an exploit to be practical but, erring on the side of caution, this issue has been treated as a security vulnerability.
02Affected products
No structured affected-product list available — see references below for vendor advisories.
03Active exploitation status
Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.
04Recommended remediation
- Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
- Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
- Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.
05Technical details
For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.
06Detection signatures
Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.
07Related CVEs
No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.
08Timeline
- Published: 2019-12-23T17:15:11.803
- Last modified: 2026-10-08T21:17:17.253
09References
- lists.opensuse.org — http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-01/msg00013.html
- lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/8b4c1db8300117b28a0f3f743c0b9e3f964687a690c…
- lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r3bbb800a816d0a51eccc5a228c58736960a9fffafa…
- lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r48c1444845fe15a823e1374674bfc297d5008a5453…
- lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r6ccee4e849bc77df0840c7f853f6bd09d426f67412…
- lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9136ff5b13e4f1941360b5a309efee2c114a148555…
- lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/raba0fabaf4d56d4325ab2aca8814f0b30a237ab83d…
- lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/reb9a66f176df29b9a832caa95ebd9ffa3284e8f492…
- lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/01/msg00024.html
- lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/05/msg00026.html
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