CVE-2008-3072
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedSimple Machines Forum (SMF) 1.1.x before 1.1.5 and 1.0.x before 1.0.13, when running in PHP before 4.2.0, does not properly seed the random number generator, which has unknown impact and attack vectors.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceSimple Machines Forum (SMF) versions 1.1.x before 1.1.5 and 1.0.x before 1.0.13 fail to properly seed the random number generator when running on PHP versions prior to 4.2.0, potentially allowing attackers to predict random values used for session tokens, passwords, or other security-critical functions.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 1.0.12<= 1.1.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed SMF versionCheck the SMF version file (typically Sources/Version.php or the admin panel under Forum > Maintenance > Server Settings), or look for a version string in the site's footerAffected if SMF version is 1.0.12 or earlier, or 1.1.4 or earlier
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Determine the PHP version running the forumRun `php -v` from command line, or create a PHP file with `<?php echo phpversion(); ?>` and access it through the web server, or check the server's PHP info pageAffected if PHP version is below 4.2.0
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Verify the random number generator seeding behaviorCheck if SMF is using PHP's mt_srand() function without proper entropy - examine the SMF source code in files like Sessions.php or Subs.php for manual calls to mt_srand()Affected if The code explicitly calls mt_srand() without PHP auto-seeding (PHP < 4.2.0)
The environment is affected if SMF version is 1.0.12/1.1.4 or lower AND the forum is running on PHP version 4.1.x or earlier, since only that combination results in predictable random values.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade PHP to version 4.2.0 or later (which auto-seeds the PRNG), or upgrade SMF to version 1.1.5+/1.0.13+. In modern deployments, upgrading to current supported versions of both PHP and SMF is strongly recommended.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-3072 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-3072 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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