The Tomcat configuration file web.xml stores application configuration settings. It is recommended that access to this file properly protect from unauthorized changes. Rationale: Restricting access to this file will prevent local users from maliciously or inadvertently altering Tomcat's security policy.
Solution
Perform the following to restrict access to web.xml: Set the ownership of the $CATALINA_HOME/conf/web.xml to tomcat_admin:tomcat. # chown tomcat_admin:tomcat $CATALINA_HOME/conf/web.xml Set the permissions for the $CATALINA_HOME/conf/web.xml file to 400. # chmod 400 $CATALINA_HOME/conf/web.xml Default Value: The default permissions of web.xml are 400.