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Labs

CVE-2020-1938 Apache Tomcat: Emulation and Detection

In this lab, you’ll practice vulnerability management by researching, assessing, testing, and mitigating an emerging threat. When you’re finished, you’ll have a system that will be protected against CVE-2020-1938 and you’ll be able to interrogate logs for previous compromises.

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Lab platform
Lab Info
Level
Advanced
Last updated
Aug 05, 2025
Duration
3h 10m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Getting Started in the Lab Environment

    Here are the initial instructions and explanation of the lab environment. Read this while your environment is busy creating itself from nothing. Yes, this violates physics; we know. How fun!

  2. Challenge

    Emulate

    You'll use Nmap to check if you’re running an affected version of Apache Tomcat and if the default Apache JServ Protocol port is exposed. Then you'll examine and run the Python test script included in the lab to determine if your system is exploitable by trying to access the web.xml file.

  3. Challenge

    Detect

    You'll now work to identify if you have previously been compromised by interrogating web server logs.

  4. Challenge

    Protect

    Patching the Tomcat server isn't always an option so you'll now explore some other ways to mitigate the vulnerability.

  5. Challenge

    The Last Challenge

    Welcome to the final challenge! This is your last chance to experiment in the environment. Clicking Finish Lab will end this little world that flittered into existence just for you.

About the author

Matt has a degree in Chemical engineering and a PhD in mathematical chemistry. He is also a GIAC certified incident handler and penetration tester and has regulated cyber security in the UK civil nuclear sector for many years.

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