Reference page — cumulative record through Sunday, October 4, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2017-5638

CVE-2017-5638CRITICAL

Apache Struts

  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS     EPSS    %ile   KEV
   N   L   N   N  U  H  H  H    9.8   1.0000   100.0   YES

AFFECTED
  Product        Versions               Fixed
  Apache Struts  2.3.x before 2.3.32 –  —

TIMELINE
  Jan 29  Reserved by apache
  Mar 11  Published (CNA: apache)
  Nov 3   Added to CISA KEV, remediation due 2022-05-03

CWE-755 · CNA: apache · CVSS v3.1 · 34 references · KEV due May 3, 2022

Description

The Jakarta Multipart parser in Apache Struts 2 2.3.x before 2.3.32 and 2.5.x before 2.5.10.1 has incorrect exception handling and error-message generation during file-upload attempts, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted Content-Type, Content-Disposition, or Content-Length HTTP header, as exploited in the wild in March 2017 with a Content-Type header containing a #cmd= string.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
Date	Event	Detail
January 29, 2017	Reserved	Reserved by apache
March 11, 2017	Published	Published (CNA: apache)
November 3, 2021	KEV ADDED	Added to CISA KEV, remediation due 2022-05-03

Affected

Affected products and packages — 1 row
Vendor	Product / Package	Ecosystem	Version introduced	Fixed
Apache Software Foundation	Apache Struts	—	2.3.x before 2.3.32	—

Weaknesses

CWE-755

References (34)

http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2017/03/apache-0-day-exploited.html [x_refsource_MISC]
http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/cve-2017-5638-apache-struts-vulnerability-remote-code-execution/ [x_refsource_MISC]
http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/alert/ARUBA-PSA-2017-002.txt [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
http://www.eweek.com/security/apache-struts-vulnerability-under-attack.html [x_refsource_MISC]
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2017-3236622.html [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96729 [vdb-entry, x_refsource_BID]
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037973 [vdb-entry, x_refsource_SECTRACK]
https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/03/critical-vulnerability-under-massive-attack-imperils-high-impact-sites/ [x_refsource_MISC]
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/S2-045 [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/S2-046 [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://exploit-db.com/exploits/41570 [exploit, x_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB]
https://git1-us-west.apache.org/repos/asf?p=struts.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=352306493971e7d5a756d61780d57a76eb1f519a [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://git1-us-west.apache.org/repos/asf?p=struts.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=6b8272ce47160036ed120a48345d9aa884477228 [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://github.com/mazen160/struts-pwn [x_refsource_MISC]
https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/issues/8064 [x_refsource_MISC]
https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbgn03733en_us [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbgn03749en_us [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbhf03723en_us [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://isc.sans.edu/diary/22169 [x_refsource_MISC]
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r1125f3044a0946d1e7e6f125a6170b58d413ebd4a95157e4608041c7%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E [mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST]
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r6d03e45b81eab03580cf7f8bb51cb3e9a1b10a2cc0c6a2d3cc92ed0c%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E [mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST]
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r90890afea72a9571d666820b2fe5942a0a5f86be406fa31da3dd0922%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E [mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST]
https://nmap.org/nsedoc/scripts/http-vuln-cve2017-5638.html [x_refsource_MISC]
https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/141494/S2-45-poc.py.txt [x_refsource_MISC]
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20170310-0001/ [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://struts.apache.org/docs/s2-045.html [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://struts.apache.org/docs/s2-046.html [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product_security/len-14200 [x_refsource_CONFIRM]
https://twitter.com/theog150/status/841146956135124993 [x_refsource_MISC]
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-5638 [government-resource]
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41614/ [exploit, x_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB]
https://www.imperva.com/blog/2017/03/cve-2017-5638-new-remote-code-execution-rce-vulnerability-in-apache-struts-2/ [x_refsource_MISC]
https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/834067 [third-party-advisory, x_refsource_CERT-VN]
https://www.symantec.com/security-center/network-protection-security-advisories/SA145 [x_refsource_CONFIRM]

Authoritative record: CVE-2017-5638 at cve.org

Vendors: apache

Weaknesses: CWE-755

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2017-5638 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Sunday, October 4, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.