Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2013-3735


The Zend Engine in PHP before 5.4.16 RC1, and 5.5.0 before RC2, does not properly determine whether a parser error occurred, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and application crash) via a crafted function definition, as demonstrated by an attack within a shared web-hosting environment. NOTE: the vendor's http://php.net/security-note.php page says "for critical security situations you should be using OS-level security by running multiple web servers each as their own user id.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.5, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from php organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2013, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.


Published

2013-05-31T21:55:01.230

Last Modified

2025-04-11T00:51:21.963

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 7.5 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: NONE
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: NONE
  • Availability Impact: PARTIAL
Exploitability Score

10.0

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-20

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application php php ≤ 5.4.15 Yes
Application php php 5.4.0 Yes
Application php php 5.4.1 Yes
Application php php 5.4.2 Yes
Application php php 5.4.3 Yes
Application php php 5.4.4 Yes
Application php php 5.4.5 Yes
Application php php 5.4.6 Yes
Application php php 5.4.7 Yes
Application php php 5.4.8 Yes
Application php php 5.4.9 Yes
Application php php 5.4.10 Yes
Application php php 5.4.11 Yes
Application php php 5.4.12 Yes
Application php php 5.4.12 Yes
Application php php 5.4.12 Yes
Application php php 5.4.13 Yes
Application php php 5.4.13 Yes
Application php php 5.4.14 Yes
Application php php 5.4.14 Yes
Application php php ≤ 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes
Application php php 5.5.0 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For php's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.