CVE-2016-5425

Description

The Tomcat package on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7, Fedora, CentOS, Oracle Linux, and possibly other Linux distributions uses weak permissions for /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/tomcat.conf, which allows local users to gain root privileges by leveraging membership in the tomcat group.

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

Red Hat

Security tracker ↗

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
RHEL 7	tomcat +9	7.0.54-8.el7_2	RHSA-2016:2046

Oracle Linux

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Oracle Linux 7	tomcat +9	7.0.54-8.el7_2	ELSA-2016-2046

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

Metasploit 1 module

Apache Tomcat on RedHat Based Systems Insecure Temp Config Privilege Escalation
exploit/linux/local/tomcat_rhel_based_temp_priv_esc

Exploit-DB 1

Apache Tomcat 8/7/6 (RedHat Based Distros) - Local Privilege Escalation EDB-40488 · local · Oct 10, 2016

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Advisories 2

RHSA-2016:2046 Red Hat Security Advisory: tomcat security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Aug 5, 2026
ELSA-2016-2046 Important: tomcat security update (Oracle Linux 7) Oracle Linux Security Advisories (ELSA) · Oct 10, 2016

The Tomcat package on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7, Fedora, CentOS, Oracle Linux, and possibly other Linux distributions uses weak per…