CVE-2016-1240

HIGHNVD 7.87.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-14. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
7.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • Public exploit code is available (Metasploit, Exploit-DB (verified), epss top5pct, public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 10%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: Metasploit · Exploit-DB (verified) · epss top5pct · public exploitExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

The Tomcat init script in the tomcat7 package before 7.0.56-3+deb8u4 and tomcat8 package before 8.0.14-1+deb8u3 on Debian jessie and the tomcat6 and libtomcat6-java packages before 6.0.35-1ubuntu3.8 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, the tomcat7 and libtomcat7-java packages before 7.0.52-1ubuntu0.7 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and tomcat8 and libtomcat8-java packages before 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS allows local users with access to the tomcat account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the Catalina log file, as demonstrated by /var/log/tomcat7/catalina.out.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8(medium)
EG Risk
66(Track)
EG Risk 66/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity78% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
10%
EPSS %ILE
95%
KEV
Not listed

Published

October 3, 2016

Last Modified

June 17, 2026

References (28)

Patch Availability(5)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntutomcat8-user (8.0.32-1ubuntu1.2) @ xenial2026-05-22ubuntu
ubuntulibservlet2.5-java-doc (6.0.45+dfsg-1ubuntu0.2) @ xenial2026-05-22ubuntu
redhatpatch2017-03-07redhat
redhattomcat-vault-0:1.0.8-9.Final_redhat_2.1.ep7.el62017-03-07redhat
redhattomcat-vault-0:1.0.8-9.Final_redhat_2.1.ep7.el72017-03-07redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(4 across 2 ecosystems)
Debian:7(2)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
tomcat66.0.35-6 ... 6.0.45-1~deb6u1 (14 versions)6.0.45+dfsg-1~deb7u2—
tomcat77.0.28-4 ... 7.0.28-4+deb7u5 (6 versions)7.0.28-4+deb7u6—
Debian:8(2)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
tomcat77.0.56-3, 7.0.56-3+deb8u1, 7.0.56-3+deb8u2, 7.0.56-3+deb8u37.0.56-3+deb8u4—
tomcat88.0.14-1, 8.0.14-1+deb8u1, 8.0.14-1+deb8u28.0.14-1+deb8u3—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(5)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 19× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 137 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-19 15:35 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-18 20:20 UTCOSV refresh
  3. 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
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  13. 2026-08-30 23:23 UTCOSV refresh
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  1. 2026-08-14 09:29 UTCOSV refresh
  2. 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
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  4. 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescore
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  11. 2026-07-30 16:23 UTCEPSS rescore
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  13. 2026-07-29 18:37 UTCOSV refresh
  14. 2026-07-28 15:31 UTCEPSS rescore
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  18. 2026-07-23 01:21 UTCEG score recompute
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  20. 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
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  23. 2026-07-20 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-19 14:27 UTCEPSS rescore
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  36. 2026-07-12 07:08 UTCOSV refresh
  37. 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
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  40. 2026-07-09 19:05 UTCEPSS rescore
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  50. 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
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  60. 2026-06-23 13:00 UTCOSV refresh
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  75. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(2 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-40450✓ verified
    First seen Oct 3, 2016

    Apache Tomcat 8/7/6 (Debian-Based Distros) - Local Privilege Escalation

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/linux/local/tomcat_ubuntu_log_init_priv_esc✓ verified
    First seen Sep 30, 2016

    Apache Tomcat on Ubuntu Log Init Privilege Escalation

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2016-1240?
CVE-2016-1240 is a high vulnerability published on October 3, 2016. The Tomcat init script in the tomcat7 package before 7.0.56-3+deb8u4 and tomcat8 package before 8.0.14-1+deb8u3 on Debian jessie and the tomcat6 and libtomcat6-java packages before 6.0.35-1ubuntu3.8 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, the tomcat7 and libtomcat7-java packages before 7.0.52-1ubuntu0.7 on Ubuntu…
When was CVE-2016-1240 disclosed?
CVE-2016-1240 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on October 3, 2016, with the most recent update on June 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2016-1240 actively exploited?
CVE-2016-1240 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 10% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 4.7% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-1240?
CVE-2016-1240 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2016-1240?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2016-1240, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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