CVE-2024-21733
Published: 19 January 2024
Summary
CVE-2024-21733 is a medium-severity Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information (CWE-209) vulnerability in Apache Tomcat. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 1.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis
CVE-2024-21733 is a Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information vulnerability, tracked as CWE-209, that affects Apache Tomcat versions 8.5.7 through 8.5.63 and 9.0.0-M11 through 9.0.43, with other end-of-life releases potentially impacted as well. The flaw carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.3 and permits partial disclosure of sensitive information over the network without authentication.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger error responses that leak internal details, enabling information-gathering that supports further attacks against the Tomcat instance.
Apache Tomcat project advisories recommend upgrading to version 8.5.64 or later and 9.0.44 or later to resolve the issue; corresponding notices have been issued through the Apache mailing lists and downstream distributions such as Debian LTS.
The EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.7343 with a current value of 0.7095, indicating sustained but not sharply escalating exploitation interest since disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-0340
Vulnerability details
Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information vulnerability in Apache Tomcat.This issue affects Apache Tomcat: from 8.5.7 through 8.5.63, from 9.0.0-M11 through 9.0.43. Other, EOL versions may also be affected. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 8.5.64 onwards or…
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9.0.44 onwards, which contain a fix for the issue.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Detects error messages that leak sensitive information as evidence of disclosure.
The control directly mitigates generation of error messages containing sensitive authentication details by requiring obscured feedback instead of verbose responses.
Misdirection allows generation of misleading error messages that withhold or falsify sensitive details.
Explicitly requires error messages to avoid including sensitive or exploitable details while still supporting corrective action.
Validation ensures error messages contain only expected, non-sensitive content and blocks leakage via verbose errors.
Fail-safe procedures can be defined to suppress or sanitize error output, reducing generation of messages that contain sensitive information.