This bz is for the rhel-5 tomcat5 zstream 5.5.z but the cited nvr is not. I made the change in RHEL-5 (tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.19.el5). Because this affects a CVE patch, I fixed this in RHEL-5_6-Z (tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.18.el5_6) as well.


-            if (path.equals("")) {
+            if (docBase.equals("")) {
                 docBase = "ROOT";
             } else {
-                if (path.startsWith("/")) {
-                    docBase = path.substring(1);
+                if (pathName.equals("")) {
+                    docBase = path.substring(1);
                 } else {
-                    docBase = path;
+                    docBase = pathName;

Tested successfully on rhel-5.5. with scratch build with the following correction to the patch:
-            if (path.equals("")) {
+            if (docBase.equals("")) {
                 docBase = "ROOT";
             } else {
-                if (path.startsWith("/")) {
-                    docBase = path.substring(1);
+                if (pathName.equals("")) {
+                    docBase = "/";
                 } else {
-                    docBase = path;
+                    docBase = pathName;
                 }
             }

This fix is in tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.19.el5.src.rpm.
The same fix is being ported to 5-5-z

catalina.out:
[root@dell-pe800-01 ~]# cat /var/log/tomcat5/catalina.out 
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /usr/share/tomcat5
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /usr/share/tomcat5
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/share/tomcat5/temp
Using JRE_HOME:       
May 24, 2011 11:16:28 AM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener lifecycleEvent
INFO: The Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in production environments was not found on the java.library.path: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0.x86_64/jre/lib/amd64/server:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0.x86_64/jre/lib/amd64:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0.x86_64/jre/../lib/amd64:/usr/java/packages/lib/amd64:/usr/lib64:/lib64:/lib:/usr/lib
May 24, 2011 11:16:28 AM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol init
INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
May 24, 2011 11:16:28 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 1041 ms
May 24, 2011 11:16:28 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService start
INFO: Starting service Catalina
May 24, 2011 11:16:28 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine start
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/5.5.23
May 24, 2011 11:16:28 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost start
INFO: XML validation disabled
May 24, 2011 11:16:30 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: org.apache.webapp.balancer.BalancerFilter: init(): ruleChain: [org.apache.webapp.balancer.RuleChain: [org.apache.webapp.balancer.rules.URLStringMatchRule: Target string: News / Redirect URL: http://www.cnn.com], [org.apache.webapp.balancer.rules.RequestParameterRule: Target param name: paramName / Target param value: paramValue / Redirect URL: http://www.yahoo.com], [org.apache.webapp.balancer.rules.AcceptEverythingRule: Redirect URL: http://jakarta.apache.org]]
May 24, 2011 11:16:30 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: ContextListener: contextInitialized()
May 24, 2011 11:16:30 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: SessionListener: contextInitialized()
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: ContextListener: contextInitialized()
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: SessionListener: contextInitialized()
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol start
INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.connector.MapperListener init
INFO: Registering Hosts
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.connector.MapperListener init
INFO: Registering WebModule Contexts
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.connector.MapperListener init
INFO: Registering Servlets
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket init
INFO: JK: ajp13 listening on /0.0.0.0:8009
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.jk.server.JkMain start
INFO: Jk running ID=0 time=0/16  config=null
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.connector.MapperListener init
INFO: Registering Hosts
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.connector.MapperListener init
INFO: Registering WebModule Contexts
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.connector.MapperListener init
INFO: Registering Servlets
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.storeconfig.StoreLoader load
INFO: Find registry server-registry.xml at classpath resource
May 24, 2011 11:16:31 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 3389 ms

[root@dell-pe800-01 ~]# wget http://localhost:8080/
--2011-05-24 11:17:07--  http://localhost:8080/
Resolving localhost... 127.0.0.1
Connecting to localhost|127.0.0.1|:8080... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7914 (7.7K) [text/html]
Saving to: `index.html'

100%[======================================>] 7,914       --.-K/s   in 0s      

2011-05-24 11:17:07 (260 MB/s) - `index.html' saved [7914/7914]

Which has tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.19.el5.src.rpm?

Hello Aldrey,

tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.19.el5 has not been released yet. Please open a support case in the Customer Portal (https://access.redhat.com/) so that Red Hat Support can follow up with you.

Thanks,
Niels

reproduced on tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.16.el5:
  https://beaker.engineering.redhat.com/jobs/187858
VERIFIED on tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.22.el5_7
  https://beaker.engineering.redhat.com/jobs/187885

Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2013-0014.html