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FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2015-8387

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2015-12-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.5.32 / 5.6.18 or later.
See remediation →
82/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
PCRE before 8.38 mishandles (?123) subroutine calls and related subroutine calls, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (integer overflow) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted regular expression, as demonstrated by a JavaScript RegExp object encountered by Konqueror.

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

PCRE library before version 8.38 contains an integer overflow vulnerability in the handling of (?123) subroutine calls and related subroutine calls within regular expressions. When a crafted regex containing specific subroutine patterns is processed, the integer overflow can lead to denial of service or potentially other undefined behavior. The vulnerability can be triggered via JavaScript RegExp objects in applications like Konqueror that use the vulnerable PCRE version.

MitigationUpgrade PCRE library to version 8.38 or later to address the integer overflow in subroutine call handling. Audit all applications and systems using PCRE to ensure they utilize the patched version, particularly applications that process user-supplied regex patterns.

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
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 22
PHPApplication
Affected:>= 5.5.0, < 5.5.32>= 5.6.0, < 5.6.18>= 7.0.0, < 7.0.3
Perl Compatible Regular Expression LibraryApplication
Affected:<= 8.37

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
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

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

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. Identify PCRE library version
    Run `pcre-config --version` or `pcregrep -V` to display the installed PCRE version number
    Affected if Version is 8.37 or earlier (the vulnerability exists in versions <= 8.37)
  2. Identify PHP-linked PCRE version
    Run `php -i | grep 'PCRE version'` or `php -r 'echo PCRE_VERSION;'` to see the PCRE library version bundled with PHP
    Affected if The displayed PCRE version is 8.37 or earlier
  3. Identify PHP interpreter version
    Run `php -v` to display the PHP major.minor.patch version
    Affected if PHP version is 5.5.0 through 5.5.31, 5.6.0 through 5.6.17, or 7.0.0 through 7.0.2 (these ranges include the vulnerable PCRE versions)
  4. Check Fedora system version
    Run `cat /etc/fedora-release` or `rpm -q fedora-release` to identify the Fedora release
    Affected if System is Fedora 22 (specifically listed as affected in the provided data)
  5. Inspect regex patterns for subroutine calls
    Search application code for regular expressions containing the \(?\d+\) pattern syntax, which represents subroutine calls like (?123) that trigger the vulnerable code path
    Affected if Application processes regex patterns using the (?123) subroutine call syntax, especially with untrusted input

You are affected if your system runs PCRE <= 8.37, or PHP 5.5.0-5.5.31/5.6.0-5.6.17/7.0.0-7.0.2, or Fedora 22, AND your application processes regex patterns containing subroutine call syntax like (?123).

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.5.32 / 5.6.18 / 7.0.3 or later
Fixed in 5.5.325.6.187.0.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade PCRE library to version 8.38 or later to address the integer overflow in subroutine call handling. Audit all applications and systems using PCRE to ensure they utilize the patched version, particularly applications that process user-supplied regex patterns.

Fix this in Fedora Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

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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-2015-8387 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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