CVE-2015-0231

Description

A use-after-free flaw was found in the way PHP's unserialize() function processed data. If a remote attacker was able to pass crafted input to PHP's unserialize() function, they could cause the PHP interpreter to crash or, possibly, execute arbitrary code.

Statement

This issue did not affect the versions of php as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6 or the versions of php53 as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as the original flaw (CVE-2014-8142) did not affect these versions.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v2 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score5.17.5N/A
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkN/A
Access ComplexityHighLowN/A
AuthenticationNoneNoneN/A
Confidentiality ImpactPartialPartialN/A
Integrity ImpactPartialPartialN/A
Availability ImpactPartialPartialN/A

Vector

Red Hat: AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

NVD: AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Integrity

Technical Impact: Modify Memory

The use of previously freed memory may corrupt valid data, if the memory area in question has been allocated and used properly elsewhere.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

If chunk consolidation occurs after the use of previously freed data, the process may crash when invalid data is used as chunk information.

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Memory

Read operations on freed memory can sometimes leak sensitive information instead of causing a crash

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

If malicious data is entered before chunk consolidation can take place, it may be possible to take advantage of a write-what-where primitive to execute arbitrary code. If the newly allocated data happens to hold a class, in C++ for example, various function pointers may be scattered within the heap data. If one of these function pointers is overwritten with an address to valid shellcode, execution of arbitrary code can be achieved.

Frequently Asked Questions

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