A failure in Apache Tomcat to enforce configured cipher preference orders exposes encrypted communications to potential downgrade attacks and reduced security posture.

This vulnerability involves the improper handling of TLS cipher suites where the server fails to respect the administrator defined preference order. It is an unauthenticated vulnerability that affects the TLS handshake process, potentially leading to the selection of less secure ciphers than intended.

The inability to enforce a secure cipher preference order can undermine the integrity and confidentiality of data in transit. By forcing or allowing the use of weaker encryption, attackers may be better positioned to perform man in the middle attacks or decrypt sensitive traffic. With a CVSS score of 7.5, this high severity issue represents a significant risk to data privacy and regulatory compliance for organizations relying on Tomcat for secure web services.

Immediate Action: Upgrade to Apache Tomcat versions 11.0.20, 10.1.53, or 9.0.116 as recommended by the vendor to resolve the cipher preference enforcement logic.

Proactive Monitoring: Review application and server logs for any anomalies in TLS negotiation or unexpected cipher suite usage during client handshakes.

Compensating Controls: If immediate patching is not feasible, utilize a hardened reverse proxy or load balancer configured to strictly enforce specific, secure cipher suites before traffic reaches the Tomcat instance.

Public Exploit Available: Unknown

Organizations utilizing Apache Tomcat must prioritize the transition to the specified fixed versions to ensure cryptographic security policies are correctly enforced. Given the potential for silent downgrades in encryption strength, this update should be integrated into the next available maintenance cycle to protect sensitive data traffic from interception or manipulation.