Rapid7’s 2026 Global Cybersecurity Summit is now available on-demand.Watch sessions.
Rapid7

module

Apache Tomcat on Ubuntu Log Init Privilege Escalation

Try Surface Command
Back to search
Disclosed
Sep 30, 2016
Created
Feb 6, 2023

Description

Tomcat (6, 7, 8) packages provided by default repositories on Debian-based
distributions (including Debian, Ubuntu etc.) provide a vulnerable
tomcat init script that allows local attackers who have already gained access
to the tomcat account (for example, by exploiting an RCE vulnerability
in a java web application hosted on Tomcat, uploading a webshell etc.) to
escalate their privileges from tomcat user to root and fully compromise the
target system.

Tested against Tomcat 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.1 on Ubuntu 16.04

Authors

h00die
Dawid Golunski [email protected]

Platform

Linux

Architectures

x86, x64, python

References

Module Options

To display the available options, load the module within the Metasploit console and run the commands 'show options' or 'show advanced':


    msf > use exploit/linux/local/tomcat_ubuntu_log_init_priv_esc
    msf exploit(tomcat_ubuntu_log_init_priv_esc) > show targets
        ...targets...
    msf exploit(tomcat_ubuntu_log_init_priv_esc) > set TARGET < target-id >
    msf exploit(tomcat_ubuntu_log_init_priv_esc) > show options
        ...show and set options...
    msf exploit(tomcat_ubuntu_log_init_priv_esc) > exploit
Title
Rapid7 Labs

2026 Global Threat Landscape Report

The predictive window has collapsed. Exploitation follows disclosure in days. See how attackers are accelerating and how to stay ahead.

Get report