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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 15 Apr 2022.
Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2009-1151

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2009-03-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.11.9.5 / 3.1.3.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
Static code injection vulnerability in setup.php in phpMyAdmin 2.11.x before 2.11.9.5 and 3.x before 3.1.3.1 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary PHP code into a configuration file via the save action.

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 · high confidence

Static code injection vulnerability in phpMyAdmin's setup.php allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary PHP code into configuration files via the save action. The attacker-supplied PHP code is written directly to a config file without sanitization and executes when the file is subsequently included by the application.

MitigationUpdate phpMyAdmin to version 2.11.9.5/3.1.3.1 or later, or delete the vulnerable setup.php file if the setup wizard is not required in production.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 4.0= 5.0
phpMyAdminApplication
Affected:>= 2.11.0, < 2.11.9.5>= 3.0.0, < 3.1.3.1

CVSS 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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate phpMyAdmin installation
    Search for phpMyAdmin directories in your web root (commonly /var/www/, /htdocs/, or similar) or check for the presence of phpMyAdmin folders. Look for a VERSION file or check the main index.php file for version strings.
    Affected if phpMyAdmin is found on the server
  2. Identify the installed phpMyAdmin version
    Open the VERSION file in the phpMyAdmin directory, or look for a version string in the header comment of files like index.php or libraries/common.lib.php. Compare this version against the affected ranges: 2.11.0 through 2.11.9.4, or 3.0.0 through 3.1.3.0.
    Affected if The installed version is 2.11.x < 2.11.9.5 or 3.0.x/3.1.x < 3.1.3.1, or if the version cannot be determined but falls within the >= 2.11.0 or >= 3.0.0 ranges
  3. Check if setup.php exists and is accessible
    Look for the setup.php file in the phpMyAdmin root directory or the setup/ subdirectory. Verify it is accessible via HTTP/HTTPS by attempting to access it through your web browser or using a tool like curl against the setup.php URL.
    Affected if setup.php exists and is accessible via the web
  4. Verify if config.inc.php contains injected PHP code
    Locate the config.inc.php file (typically in the phpMyAdmin directory or in a location defined during setup). Open it and search for any PHP code tags (<?php) that were not intentionally added, or look for base64_decode, eval, shell_exec, system, or other suspicious functions that may indicate code injection.
    Affected if config.inc.php exists and contains unexpected or malicious PHP code, especially code that was not deliberately placed there during legitimate configuration

Your environment is affected if phpMyAdmin versions 2.11.0 through 2.11.9.4 or 3.0.0 through 3.1.3.0 are installed, the setup.php script is present and web-accessible, and the configuration may contain injected malicious code.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.11.9.5 / 3.1.3.1 or later
Fixed in 2.11.9.53.1.3.1
Vendor patch www.phpmyadmin.net →
Interim mitigation

Update phpMyAdmin to version 2.11.9.5/3.1.3.1 or later, or delete the vulnerable setup.php file if the setup wizard is not required in production.

Recommended fix High confidence

phpMyAdmin 2.11.9.5+ (2.11.x branch) or 3.1.3.1+ (3.x branch)

  1. 1. Back up the current phpMyAdmin installation, including the config directory and any custom configurations
  2. 2. Download the fixed phpMyAdmin version: 2.11.9.5 or later for 2.11.x branches, or 3.1.3.1 or later for 3.x branches
  3. 3. Extract the new phpMyAdmin files and replace the existing installation, preserving custom configurations
  4. 4. Delete or secure the setup.php file if not needed in production (the vulnerability resides in this file)
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade by logging into phpMyAdmin and confirming all functionality works correctly
  6. 6. Monitor logs for any unauthorized access attempts targeting the previously vulnerable setup.php endpoint
Caveat Minor: Review custom configuration files for compatibility with the new version; ensure PHP version meets requirements for the upgraded phpMyAdmin

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Debian Linux Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-1151 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data