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…

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/).

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

99.9% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (5 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.1.

Weakness

• Remote Code Execution
• CWE-78 (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-78 and its CVEs

Affected products

• Apache · Tomcat

  • affected 9.0.0.M1 to 9.0.17
  • affected 8.5.0 to 8.5.39
  • affected 7.0.0 to 7.0.93

Affected packages

From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.

• Mavenorg.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-coreGHSA-8vmx-qmch-mpqg (opens in a new tab)

References (32)

• [tomcat-users] 20190410 [SECURITY] CVE-2019-0232 Apache Tomcat Remote Code Execution on Windows (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20190415 svn commit: r1857582 [18/22] - in /tomcat/site/trunk: docs/ xdocs/stylesheets/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [ofbiz-commits] 20190415 svn commit: r1857587 - in /ofbiz: ofbiz-framework/branches/release18.12/build.gradle ofbiz-plugins/branches/release18.12/example/build.gradle (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20190415 svn commit: r1857582 [17/22] - in /tomcat/site/trunk: docs/ xdocs/stylesheets/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [ofbiz-commits] 20190415 svn commit: r1857586 - in /ofbiz: ofbiz-framework/trunk/build.gradle ofbiz-plugins/trunk/example/build.gradle (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20190415 svn commit: r1857582 [19/22] - in /tomcat/site/trunk: docs/ xdocs/stylesheets/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [ofbiz-commits] 20190415 svn commit: r1857588 - in /ofbiz: ofbiz-framework/branches/release17.12/build.gradle ofbiz-plugins/branches/release17.12/example/build.gradle (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [ofbiz-notifications] 20190415 [jira] [Commented] (OFBIZ-10920) Update Tomcat to 9.0.18 due to CVE-2019-0232 (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [ofbiz-notifications] 20190415 [jira] [Closed] (OFBIZ-10920) Update Tomcat to 9.0.18 due to CVE-2019-0232 (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• 107906 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20190421 svn commit: r1857901 - in /tomcat/site/trunk: docs/security-7.html docs/security-8.html docs/security-9.html xdocs/security-7.xml xdocs/security-8.xml xdocs/security-9.xml (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• 20190504 RCE in CGI Servlet - Apache Tomcat on Windows - CVE-2019-0232 (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISCx_transferred
• RHSA-2019:1712 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
• [announce] 20200131 Apache Software Foundation Security Report: 2019 (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20200203 svn commit: r1873527 [24/30] - /tomcat/site/trunk/docs/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20200203 svn commit: r1873527 [25/30] - /tomcat/site/trunk/docs/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20200213 svn commit: r1873980 [27/34] - /tomcat/site/trunk/docs/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20200213 svn commit: r1873980 [28/34] - /tomcat/site/trunk/docs/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• [tomcat-dev] 20200213 svn commit: r1873980 [29/34] - /tomcat/site/trunk/docs/ (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2020.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2019-5072835.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2019-5072832.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2020.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• https://codewhitesec.blogspot.com/2016/02/java-and-command-line-injections-in-windows.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• https://web.archive.org/web/20161228144344/https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/twistylittlepassagesallalike/2011/04/23/everyone-quotes-command-line-arguments-the-wrong-way/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• https://www.synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_19_17 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
• https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190419-0001/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
• https://www.broadcom.com/support/fibre-channel-networking/security-advisories/brocade-security-advisory-2019-784 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
• https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/uncovering-cve-2019-0232-a-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-apache-tomcat/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• https://wwws.nightwatchcybersecurity.com/2019/04/30/remote-code-execution-rce-in-cgi-servlet-apache-tomcat-on-windows-cve-2019-0232/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153506/Apache-Tomcat-CGIServlet-enableCmdLineArguments-Remote-Code-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisory GHSA-8vmx-qmch-mpqg (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2019-0232](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2019-0232.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2019-0232)

Record last updated 2 Nov 2026, 17:30 UTC.