CVE-2013-2185
Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Apache Tomcat
The readObject method in the DiskFileItem class in Apache Tomcat and JBoss Web, as used in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0 and Red Hat JBoss Portal 6.0.0, allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a NULL byte in a file name in a serialized instance, a similar issue to CVE-2013-2186. NOTE: this issue is reportedly disputed by the Apache Tomcat team, although Red Hat considers it a vulnerability. The dispute appears to regard whether it is the responsibility of applications to avoid providing untrusted data to be deserialized, or whether this class should inherently protect against this issue
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
7.5
The readObject method in the DiskFileItem class in Apache Tomcat and JBoss Web, as used in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0 and Red Hat JBoss Portal 6.0.0, allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a NULL byte in a file name in a serialized instance, a similar issue to CVE-2013-2186. NOTE: this issue is reportedly disputed by the Apache Tomcat team, although Red Hat considers it a vulnerability. The dispute appears to regard whether it is the responsibility of applications to avoid providing untrusted data to be deserialized, or whether this class should inherently protect against this issue
- Record
CVE-2013-2185- CVSS 2.0
- 7.5 High
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
The readObject method in the DiskFileItem class in Apache Tomcat and JBoss Web, as used in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0 and Red Hat JBoss Portal 6.0.0, allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a NULL byte in a file name in a serialized instance, a similar issue to CVE-2013-2186. NOTE: this issue is reportedly disputed by the Apache Tomcat team, although Red Hat considers it a vulnerability. The dispute appears to regard whether it is the responsibility of applications to avoid providing untrusted data to be deserialized, or whether this class should inherently protect against this issue
- Record
CVE-2013-2185- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2022-5293 No score
The readObject method in the DiskFileItem class in Apache Tomcat and JBoss Web, as used in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0 and Red Hat JBoss Portal 6.0.0, allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a NULL byte in a file name in a serialized instance, a similar issue to CVE-2013-2186. NOTE: this issue is reportedly disputed by the Apache Tomcat team, although Red Hat considers it a vulnerability. The dispute appears to regard whether it is the responsibility of applications to avoid providing untrusted data to be deserialized, or whether this class should inherently protect against this issue
- Record
EUVD-2022-5293- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-v6c7-8qx5-8gmp No score
Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Apache Tomcat
The readObject method in the DiskFileItem class in Apache Tomcat and JBoss Web, as used in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0 and Red Hat JBoss Portal 6.0.0, allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a NULL byte in a file name in a serialized instance, a similar issue to CVE-2013-2186.
NOTE: this issue is reportedly disputed by the Apache Tomcat team, although Red Hat considers it a vulnerability. The dispute appears to regard whether it is the responsibility of applications to avoid providing untrusted data to be deserialized, or whether this class should inherently protect against this issue. Regardless the tomcat maintainers have altered the behavior of this method in version 7.0.39.
- Record
GHSA-v6c7-8qx5-8gmp- Weakness
- CWE-502
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-v6c7-8qx5-8gmp No score
Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Apache Tomcat
The readObject method in the DiskFileItem class in Apache Tomcat and JBoss Web, as used in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.1.0 and Red Hat JBoss Portal 6.0.0, allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a NULL byte in a file name in a serialized instance, a similar issue to CVE-2013-2186.
NOTE: this issue is reportedly disputed by the Apache Tomcat team, although Red Hat considers it a vulnerability. The dispute appears to regard whether it is the responsibility of applications to avoid providing untrusted data to be deserialized, or whether this class should inherently protect against this issue. Regardless the tomcat maintainers have altered the behavior of this method in version 7.0.39.
- Record
GHSA-v6c7-8qx5-8gmp- Weakness
- CWE-502
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
org.apache.tomcat:tomcatMaven |
before 7.0.39 | 7.0.39 |
org.apache.tomcat:tomcatMaven |
before 7.0.39, plus listed versions 7.0.357.0.37 |
7.0.39 |
jbosswebRed Hat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:6::el5 |
before 0:7.2.0-3.redhat_2.ep6.el5 | 0:7.2.0-3.redhat_2.ep6.el5 |
jbosswebRed Hat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:6::el6 |
before 0:7.2.0-3.redhat_2.ep6.el6 | 0:7.2.0-3.redhat_2.ep6.el6 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2013-2185 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Apache Tomcat, published January 19, 2014. Its validity is disputed. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 7.20%, the 94th percentile. Fixed in org.apache.tomcat:tomcat 7.0.39.
References
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/09/05/4
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1193.html
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1265.html
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/24/12
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1194.html
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-2185
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github.com/advisories/GHSA-v6c7-8qx5-8gmp
github.com/apache/tomcat
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013:1193
access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=974813
security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/advisories/2013/rhsa-2013_1193.json
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-2185
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-2185