PHPApplication
CVE-2016-5772
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 · uneditedDouble free vulnerability in the php_wddx_process_data function in wddx.c in the WDDX extension in PHP before 5.5.37, 5.6.x before 5.6.23, and 7.x before 7.0.8 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data that is mishandled in a wddx_deserialize call.
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 analysisThe same block of memory is freed twice, corrupting the allocator's bookkeeping in ways an attacker can shape toward code execution. It usually stems from tangled ownership of a pointer. The fix is clear, single ownership of each allocation and clearing pointers once they are freed.
General guidance for the double free class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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
< 5.5.37>= 5.6.0, < 5.6.23>= 7.0.0, < 7.0.8
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 8.0= 11= 42.1= 13.2= 11= 11CVSS 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
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 · scoped5.5.375.6.237.0.8
PHP 5.5.37, PHP 5.6.23, or PHP 7.0.8 (or later stable releases)
- Identify the currently installed PHP version using 'php -v'
- For PHP 5.5.x: Upgrade to PHP 5.5.37 or higher
- For PHP 5.6.x: Upgrade to PHP 5.6.23 or higher
- For PHP 7.0.x: Upgrade to PHP 7.0.8 or higher
- On Debian 8.0: Run 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade' to apply security updates
- On SUSE distributions: Use 'zypper patch' or 'zypper update php*' to apply vendor patches
- After upgrade, verify the fix by running 'php -v' and confirming the version is >= the fixed release
- Test applications to ensure compatibility with the upgraded PHP version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-5772 — 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-2016-5772 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data