VulnerabilityPublished 13 Mar 2024Updated 29 Oct 2025

CVE-2024-23672: Apache Tomcat · Incomplete Cleanup

Affects Apache TomcatSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.3 Medium : upgrade to 8.5.99 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 2.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 83% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 8.5.99

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 13 Mar 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade org.apache.tomcat/tomcat to 8.5.99.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Mavenorg.apache.tomcat/tomcat`pkg:maven/org.apache.tomcat/tomcat`Other threats	Affected =8.5.0 >=8.5.0 <8.5.99	Fixed in 8.5.99

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-23672, organizations should: 1) Immediately upgrade Apache Tomcat to the fixed versions 8.5.99, 9.0.86, 10.1.19, or 11.0.0-M17 as appropriate. 2) Implement WebSocket connection limits and timeouts at the application or server level to prevent clients from holding connections indefinitely. 3) Monitor WebSocket traffic patterns and resource utilization to detect abnormal connection persistence or spikes indicative of attempted exploitation. 4) Employ network-level controls such as rate limiting and connection throttling on firewalls or load balancers to mitigate potential abuse. 5) Review and harden server configurations to ensure resource cleanup mechanisms are effective. 6) Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing focused on WebSocket implementations. 7) Educate development and operations teams about the risks associated with WebSocket misuse and the importance of timely patching. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on WebSocket-specific controls and proactive monitoring tailored to this vulnerability.

Description

Denial of Service via incomplete cleanup vulnerability in Apache Tomcat. It was possible for WebSocket clients to keep WebSocket connections open leading to increased resource consumption.This issue affects Apache Tomcat: from 11.0.0-M1 through 11.0.0-M16, from 10.1.0-M1 through 10.1.18, from 9.0.0-M1 through 9.0.85, from 8.5.0 through 8.5.98. Older, EOL versions may also be affected. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 11.0.0-M17, 10.1.19, 9.0.86 or 8.5.99 which fix the issue.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-23672 is the risk of denial of service due to resource exhaustion caused by persistent WebSocket connections. This can disrupt critical web applications, customer-facing portals, and internal services that depend on Apache Tomcat, leading to downtime and potential loss of business continuity. Organizations in sectors such as finance, government, telecommunications, and e-commerce, which often deploy Tomcat-based applications, may face operational disruptions. The vulnerability could also increase operational costs due to the need for emergency incident response and potential reputational damage if services become unavailable. While confidentiality and integrity impacts are low, the availability impact can be significant, especially if exploited at scale or combined with other attack vectors. Given the widespread use of Tomcat in Europe, unpatched systems represent a notable risk vector for service outages.

CWE-459Incomplete Cleanup (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
The product does not properly "clean up" and remove temporary or supporting resources after they have been used.
Architecture and Design · Implementation
Temporary files and other supporting resources should be deleted/released immediately after they are no longer needed.
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 29 Oct 2025, 12:21 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-459

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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