CVE-2015-8389: PHP buffer overflow (CVSS 9.8)

Description

PCRE before 8.38 mishandles the /(?:|a|){100}x/ pattern and related patterns, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite recursion) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted regular expression, as demonstrated by a JavaScript RegExp object encountered by Konqueror.

CVSS 3.1 breakdown

Attack vectorNetwork

Attack complexityLow

Privileges requiredNone

User interactionNone

ScopeUnchanged

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

Pcre Perl Compatible Regular Expression Library≤ 8.37

PHP≥ 5.5.0 < 5.5.32 · ≥ 5.6.0 < 5.6.18 · ≥ 7.0.0 < 7.0.3

Fedoraproject Fedora22

Remediation

Fixed in

PHP≥ 5.5.32

Patch & vendor advisories

http://vcs.pcre.org/pcre/code/trunk/ChangeLog?view=markup

References

http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2016-January/174931.htmlThird Party Advisory
https://bto.bluecoat.com/security-advisory/sa128Permissions RequiredThird Party Advisory
https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/kb/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c05240731Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201607-02Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230216-0002/
http://vcs.pcre.org/pcre/code/trunk/ChangeLog?view=markupRelease NotesVendor Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/11/29/1Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/82990Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry

Related CVEs

Recent high-severity vulnerabilities sharing a weakness type.

Frequently asked

Is CVE-2015-8389 being actively exploited?

CVE-2015-8389 is not in the CISA KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit probability is 3.89%.

How severe is CVE-2015-8389?

CVE-2015-8389 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, rated critical. EPSS estimates a 3.89% probability of exploitation.

Which products are affected by CVE-2015-8389?

Affected products include Pcre Perl Compatible Regular Expression Library, PHP, Fedoraproject Fedora.

How do I fix CVE-2015-8389?

Upgrade affected software to a fixed version, for example PHP 5.5.32 or later, then confirm no affected versions remain in your inventory.

How Secuno handles this

Secuno correlates vulnerabilities like CVE-2015-8389 against the real software inventory on every managed device, as each hourly inventory arrives. Rather than a static severity, each match is scored in context: exploit availability, EPSS, the asset's exposure, and business criticality decide where it lands in the queue. If an affected version is present anywhere across your portfolio, it surfaces automatically with a prioritised remediation path.

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