CVE-2013-4590

It was found that several application-provided XML files, such as web.xml, content.xml, *.tld, *.tagx, and *.jspx, resolved external entities, permitting XML External Entity (XXE) attacks. An attacker able to deploy malicious applications to Tomcat could use this flaw to circumvent security restrictions set by the JSM, and gain access to sensitive information on the system. Note that this flaw only affected deployments in which Tomcat is running applications from untrusted sources, such as in a shared hosting environment.

This issue did not affect JBoss Web, as shipped with various Red Hat JBoss products.

This issue does affect Tomcat 5 as shipped by Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. The risks in breaking compatibility associated with fixing this flaw outweigh the benefits of the fix, therefore Red Hat does not plan to fix this flaw in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Additionally, note that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 is currently in reduced support phase, receiving only Critical security updates. For additional information, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle: https://access.redhat.com/site/support/policy/updates/errata#Production_3_Phase

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.