The postrm script in the tomcat6 package before 6.0.45+dfsg-1~deb7u3 on Debian wheezy, before 6.0.45+dfsg-1~deb8u1 on Debian jessie, before 6.0.35-1ubuntu3.9 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS; the tomcat7 package before 7.0.28-4+deb7u7 on Debian wheezy, before 7.0.56-3+deb8u6 on Debian jessie, before 7.0.52-1ubuntu0.8 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, and 16.10; and the tomcat8 package before 8.0.14-1+deb8u5 on Debian jessie, before 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.3 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, before 8.0.37-1ubuntu0.1 on Ubuntu 16.10, and before 8.0.38-2ubuntu1 on Ubuntu 17.04 might allow local users with access to the tomcat account to gain root privileges via a setgid program in the Catalina directory, as demonstrated by /etc/tomcat8/Catalina/attack.
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180731-0002/
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=845385
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3177-2
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3177-1
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94643
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/12/02/5
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/12/02/10