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PHPApplication

CVE-2016-3141

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-03-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.11.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Use-after-free vulnerability in wddx.c in the WDDX extension in PHP before 5.5.33 and 5.6.x before 5.6.19 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact by triggering a wddx_deserialize call on XML data containing a crafted var element.

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

Use-after-free vulnerability in wddx.c in PHP's WDDX extension. When wddx_deserialize processes XML data with a crafted var element, memory is freed but pointers are not cleared, leading to use-after-free. This causes memory corruption and application crashes, potentially allowing remote code execution.

MitigationUpgrade PHP to version 5.5.33 or 5.6.19 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, disable the WDDX extension in php.ini until patching can be completed.

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
PHPApplication
Affected:<= 5.5.32= 5.6.0= 5.6.1= 5.6.2= 5.6.3= 5.6.4= 5.6.5= 5.6.6= 5.6.7= 5.6.8= 5.6.9= 5.6.10
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:<= 10.11.4

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:3.0/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. Check PHP version
    Run 'php -v' or 'phpinfo()' to retrieve the installed PHP version number
    Affected if The version is <= 5.5.32, or between 5.6.0 and 5.6.10 inclusive, or if running on Apple Mac OS X <= 10.11.4 with bundled PHP in that range
  2. Confirm WDDX extension is loaded
    Run 'php -m' or check phpinfo() output for 'wddx' in the list of loaded modules
    Affected if The WDDX module appears in the loaded modules list and the PHP version is in the affected range
  3. Check WDDX extension is enabled in configuration
    Inspect php.ini (typically at /etc/php.ini or /etc/php.d/) for lines containing 'extension=wddx' or 'wddx.so', or check for wddx in the 'enabled' section of phpinfo()
    Affected if WDDX is explicitly enabled in the PHP configuration and the PHP version is in the affected range
  4. Identify if application uses WDDX functionality
    Search application code for calls to wddx_deserialize, wddx_packet_start, or other WDDX functions, or search for 'WDDX' in phpinfo() 'Additional Modules' section
    Affected if The application actively uses WDDX functions and the PHP version is in the affected range

You are affected if your PHP version falls within <= 5.5.32 or 5.6.0-5.6.10 AND the WDDX extension is loaded and potentially in use on Mac OS X <= 10.11.4.

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 a release after 10.11.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade PHP to version 5.5.33 or 5.6.19 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, disable the WDDX extension in php.ini until patching can be completed.

Recommended fix High confidence

PHP 5.5.33 or later for 5.5.x users; PHP 5.6.19 or later for 5.6.x users (preferably latest stable in each branch)

  1. 1. Check the current PHP version by running 'php -v' on the command line
  2. 2. If running PHP 5.5.x version 5.5.32 or earlier, or PHP 5.6.x version 5.6.18 or earlier, the system is vulnerable
  3. 3. For PHP 5.5.x users: upgrade to PHP 5.5.33 or later (preferably the latest 5.5.x release)
  4. 4. For PHP 6.6.x users: upgrade to PHP 5.6.19 or later (preferably the latest 5.6.x release)
  5. 5. On Linux/Unix systems, use the appropriate package manager (apt-get, yum, etc.) or compile from source to obtain the fixed version
  6. 6. After upgrading, restart any running PHP services or web servers (Apache, Nginx, PHP-FPM)
  7. 7. Verify the fix by running 'php -v' to confirm the new version is installed
Caveat Minor - this is a security patch release with no expected breaking changes, but test in staging if possible

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

Fix this in PHP Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2016-3141 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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