thinQtankLABS

Detection Engineering & Incident Response: CVE-2025-24813

Respond to a Apache Tomcat partial-PUT path-equivalence compromise (CVE-2025-24813). Reconstruct the timeline from the access and work-dir logs, see how the `..;/` trick wrote a session file that FileStore deserialized into RCE, find the staged-session persistence, engineer a detection rule for the malicious PUT pattern, then contain, eradicate, upgrade, verify and report.

Intermediate 20 guided steps 6 tasks About 75 minutes Runs in your browser

Skills you will practice

  • Log analysis
  • detection and IR; Incident-handling lifecycle; File upload abuse
  • deserialization and IOCs; Security Operations domain

Certifications this lab maps to

This lab builds hands-on skills that appear on these certification exams. thinQtank Learning runs instructor-led training camps for each — click one to see upcoming classes.

CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 Log analysis, detection and IR Training at thinQtank Learning EC-Council Certified Incident Handler E|CIH Incident-handling lifecycle Training at thinQtank Learning EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker CEH File upload abuse, deserialization and IOCs Training at thinQtank Learning ISC2 CISSP CISSP Security Operations domain Training at thinQtank Learning
Part of these certification lab packages: CySA+ CS0-003 CISSP Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) CEH Certified Incident Handler (E|CIH) E|CIH GCIH GCIH GCIA GCIA

The scenario

An internet-facing Apache Tomcat server (CVE-2025-24813 open) logged partial PUT uploads using a path-equivalence trick, then a session file was deserialized and a shell spawned. You are the responder. Classify it.

What you will do

  1. Open and classify the incident4 steps

    Open the incident · Read the alert · Read the ticket · Classify it

  2. Reconstruct the timeline3 steps

    Pull the attacker’s requests · Correlate the work-dir log · What turned upload into RCE?

  3. Impact and persistence3 steps

    Inspect the staged session file · What persistence? · Record IOCs

  4. Engineer a detection rule4 steps

    Study the sample · Write a rule · Test and tune · Why not flag the word "session"?

  5. Contain, eradicate, verify4 steps

    Eradicate the staged session file · Upgrade Tomcat · Verify the host · Confirm detection holds

  6. Report2 steps

    Write the report · What config breaks the chain?

How this lab works

A real Linux-style console. Commands run against real files, so hashes, hex dumps and comparisons give real results.

A file browser where you can place evidence into the lab, either the file provided or one of your own.

Reset a single step, a whole task or the entire lab. The environment is rebuilt so you can try again cleanly.

Progress saves after every step. Close the tab and come back later; your files and answers are waiting.