#VU44298 Memory leak in PHP - CVE-2012-0789

Vulnerability identifier: #VU44298

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 5.5 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2012-0789

CWE-ID: CWE-401

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: Yes

Vulnerable software:
PHP
Universal components / Libraries / Scripting languages

Vendor: PHP Group

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to memory leak within the timezone functionality in PHP before 5.3.9 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by triggering many strtotime function calls, which are not properly handled by the php_date_parse_tzfile cache. A remote attacker can perform a denial of service attack.

Mitigation
Cybersecurity Help is currently unaware of any official solution to address this vulnerability.

Vulnerable software versions

PHP: 5.0.0 - 5.0.5, 5.1.1 - 5.1.6, 5.2.0 - 5.2.17, 5.3.0 - 5.3.7

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External links
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-03/msg00013.html
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-03/msg00016.html
https://secunia.com/advisories/48668
https://www.php.net/ChangeLog-5.php#5.3.9
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=53502
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=783609

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, proof of concept for this vulnerability is available.