PHP up to 5.1.4 Safe-Mode sscanf privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
5.9	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in PHP. It has been rated as critical. This impacts the function sscanf of the component Safe-Mode. The manipulation leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2006-4020. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. Furthermore, there is an exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in PHP (Programming Language Software). It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function sscanf of the component Safe-Mode. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Impacted is confidentiality, and integrity. The summary by CVE is:

scanf.c in PHP 5.1.4 and earlier, and 4.4.3 and earlier, allows context-dependent attackers to execute arbitrary code via a sscanf PHP function call that performs argument swapping, which increments an index past the end of an array and triggers a buffer over-read.

The weakness was shared 08/08/2006 by Heintz (Website). The advisory is shared at bugs.php.net. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2006-4020 since 08/08/2006. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. Technical details as well as a public exploit are known. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1068 for this issue.

The exploit is available at exploit-db.com. It is declared as proof-of-concept. We expect the 0-day to have been worth approximately $5k-$25k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 22290 (GLSA-200608-28 : PHP: Arbitary code execution), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Gentoo Local Security Checks and running in the context l. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 156244 (Oracle Enterprise Linux Update for PHP (ELSA-2006:0730,ELSA-2006:0669)).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at php.net. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version. A possible mitigation has been published 3 weeks after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (28284), Exploit-DB (2193), Tenable (22290), SecurityFocus (BID 19415†) and OSVDB (27824†). The entries VDB-2200, VDB-2199, VDB-2202 and VDB-2201 are related to this item. If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Programming Language Software

Name

• PHP

Version

• 4.0
• 4.0.0
• 4.0.1
• 4.0.2
• 4.0.3
• 4.0.4
• 4.0.5
• 4.0.6
• 4.0.7
• 4.1.0
• 4.1.1
• 4.1.2
• 4.2.0
• 4.2.1
• 4.2.2
• 4.2.3
• 4.3
• 4.3.1
• 4.3.2
• 4.3.3
• 4.3.4
• 4.3.5
• 4.3.6
• 4.3.7
• 4.3.8
• 4.3.9
• 4.3.10
• 4.3.11
• 4.4.0
• 4.4.1
• 4.4.2
• 4.4.3
• 5.0.0
• 5.0.1
• 5.0.2
• 5.0.3
• 5.0.4
• 5.0.5
• 5.1
• 5.1.0
• 5.1.1
• 5.1.2
• 5.1.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://www.php.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
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CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.9

VulDB Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Temp Score: 5.9
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
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💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
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Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Nessus ID: 22290
Nessus Name: GLSA-200608-28 : PHP: Arbitary code execution
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍
Nessus Port: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 57878
OpenVAS Name: Gentoo Security Advisory GLSA 200608-28 (php)
OpenVAS File: 🔍
OpenVAS Family: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Patch: php.net

Timelineinfo

08/04/2006 🔍
08/08/2006 +4 days 🔍
08/08/2006 +0 days 🔍
08/08/2006 +0 days 🔍
08/08/2006 +0 days 🔍
08/08/2006 +0 days 🔍
08/08/2006 +0 days 🔍
08/27/2006 +18 days 🔍
08/29/2006 +2 days 🔍
08/30/2006 +1 days 🔍
10/05/2006 +36 days 🔍
10/23/2006 +18 days 🔍
02/02/2025 +6677 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Product: php.org

Advisory: bugs.php.net
Researcher: Heintz
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2006-4020 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2006-4020
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-2429

OVAL: 🔍

X-Force: 28284
SecurityFocus: 19415 - PHP SSCANF() Safe_Mode Restriction-Bypass Vulnerability
Secunia: 22538 - Avaya Products PHP Multiple Vulnerabilites, Highly Critical
OSVDB: 27824 - PHP sscanf() Function Argument Swapping Overflow
SecurityTracker: 1016984 - PHP Heap Overflows and Other Bugs Let Users Execute Arbitrary Code or Cause Denial of Service Conditions
Vulnerability Center: 12594 - PHP <=5.1.4 and <=4.4.3 Code Execution due to Bypassing of Safe-Mode Restrictions, High
Vupen: ADV-2006-3193

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013
See also: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 08/08/2006 14:41
Updated: 02/02/2025 17:49
Changes: 08/08/2006 14:41 (90), 06/07/2017 16:04 (14), 03/13/2021 11:22 (2), 02/02/2025 17:49 (14)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:A19:103

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Discussion

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