4.3

CVE-2009-4142: php

Modified
Published 21-12-2009Last modified 07-08-2024

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2009-4142 is a medium (CVSS 4.3) vulnerability in php. EPSS estimates a 6.50% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 93.7% of scored vulnerabilities. 4 public exploits are recorded.

Priority
Prioritiseweaponized exploit

Weaponized exploit (exploit-database, 17-12-2009)

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
4.3/10
010
Medium · v2.0 (NVD)
EPSS score
6.50%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits4reference, exploit-database

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 2
DSA-2001-1RHSA-2010:0040

Timeline

  1. 21-12-2009
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 07-08-2024
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

The htmlspecialchars function in PHP before 5.2.12 does not properly handle (1) overlong UTF-8 sequences, (2) invalid Shift_JIS sequences, and (3) invalid EUC-JP sequences, which allows remote attackers to conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks by placing a crafted byte sequence before a special character.

CVSS metrics

1 score · 1 source · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

6.50%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

94%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 6.50% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

4 found
  • referenceUnverified

    Exploit Reference (securityfocus.com)

    Maturity: unknown

  • referenceUnverified

    Exploit Reference (securitytracker.com)

    Maturity: unknown

  • exploit-databaseremotephpVerified

    PHP 5.2.11 - 'htmlspecialCharacters()' Malformed Multibyte Character Cross-Site Scripting (1)

    Maturity: weaponized

Show all 4 exploits
  • exploit-databaseremotephpVerified

    PHP 5.2.11 - 'htmlspecialCharacters()' Malformed Multibyte Character Cross-Site Scripting (2)

    Maturity: weaponized

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: network-reachable, no authentication (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Php1 product
  • phpEOL≤ 5.2.11 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0b10 | 3.0 | 3.0.1 | 3.0.2 | 3.0.3 | 3.0.4 | 3.0.5 | 3.0.6 | 3.0.7 | 3.0.8 | 3.0.9 | 3.0.10 | 3.0.11 | 3.0.12 | 3.0.13 | 3.0.14 | 3.0.15 | 3.0.16 | 3.0.17 | 3.0.18 | 4 | 4.0 | 4.0:beta_4_patch1 | 4.0:beta1 | 4.0:beta2 | 4.0:beta3 | 4.0:beta4 | 4.0:rc1 | 4.0:rc2 | 4.0.0 | 4.0.1 | 4.0.1:patch1 | 4.0.1:patch2 | 4.0.2 | 4.0.3 | 4.0.3:patch1 | 4.0.4 | 4.0.4:patch1 | 4.0.5 | 4.0.6 | 4.0.7 | 4.0.7:rc1 | 4.0.7:rc2 | 4.0.7:rc3 | 4.0.7:rc4 | 4.1.0 | 4.1.1 | 4.1.2 | 4.2 | 4.2.0 | 4.2.1 | 4.2.2 | 4.2.3 | 4.3.0 | 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 | 4.4.4 | 4.4.5 | 4.4.6 | 4.4.7 | 4.4.8 | 4.4.9 | 5 | 5.0:rc1 | 5.0:rc2 | 5.0:rc3 | 5.0.0 | 5.0.0:beta1 | 5.0.0:beta2 | 5.0.0:beta3 | 5.0.0:beta4 | 5.0.0:rc1 | 5.0.0:rc2 | 5.0.0:rc3 | 5.0.1 | 5.0.2 | 5.0.3 | 5.0.4 | 5.0.5 | 5.1.0 | 5.1.1 | 5.1.3 | 5.1.4 | 5.1.5 | 5.1.6 | 5.2.0 | 5.2.1 | 5.2.2 | 5.2.3 | 5.2.4 | 5.2.5 | 5.2.6 | 5.2.8 | 5.2.9 | 5.2.10

1 vendor · 1 product

References

15 links
Show all 15 references