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TI-2005-04602 Aliases CVE-2005-4872GHSA-m5xf-8w89-qqxm

Perl-Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE) library before 6.2 does not properly count the…

Priority LOW 25CWE-119Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
— Not recorded in CVSS 2.0
Attack complexity
Medium
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · Partial
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 2.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-119 and the CVSS impact.

Summary

Perl-Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE) library before 6.2 does not properly count the number of named capturing subpatterns, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a regular expression with a large number of named subpatterns, which triggers a buffer overflow. NOTE: this issue was originally subsumed by CVE-2006-7224, but that CVE has been REJECTED and split.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.02321 83rd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed Red Hat: 1 advisory

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
——all versions—No fix listedCNA
  • — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*up to 6.1VulnerablePCRE
  • cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 6.1 Vulnerable ·PCRE

Remediation

Red Hat 1 advisory

  • RHSA-2007:1052 Released 2007-11-10 · Red Hat rating Important
    pcre security update
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) pcre-6.6-2.el5_1.1, pcre-6.6-2.el5_1.1.i386, pcre-6.6-2.el5_1.1.ia64 +5
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4, pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4.i386, pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4.ia64 +5
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) pcre-6.6-2.el5_1.1, pcre-6.6-2.el5_1.1.i386
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client) pcre-6.6-2.el5_1.1, pcre-devel-6.6-2.el5_1.1, pcre-devel-6.6-2.el5_1.1.i386
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4, pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4.i386, pcre-devel-4.5-4.el4_5.4 +1
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4, pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4.i386, pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4.ia64 +3
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4, pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4.i386, pcre-4.5-4.el4_5.4.ia64 +3

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server)Fixed RHSA-2007:1052
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4Fixed RHSA-2007:1052
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client)Fixed RHSA-2007:1052
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client)Fixed RHSA-2007:1052
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4Fixed RHSA-2007:1052
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4Fixed RHSA-2007:1052
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4Fixed RHSA-2007:1052

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2005-4872
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-m5xf-8w89-qqxm

References

Advisory 4

Other 4

  • TI-2017-11950 In PCRE 8.41, after compiling, a pcretest load test PoC produces a crash overflow in the… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.5
  • TI-2015-02839 Heap-based buffer overflow in PCRE 8.34 through 8.37 and PCRE2 10.10 allows remote… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2016-02677 The compile_branch function in pcre_compile.c in PCRE 8.x before 8.39 and pcre2_compile.c… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2016-01176 The pcre_compile2 function in pcre_compile.c in PCRE 8.38 mishandles the… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2015-06911 The pcre_compile function in pcre_compile.c in PCRE before 8.38 mishandles certain [… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2015-04255 Heap-based buffer overflow in the find_fixedlength function in pcre_compile.c in PCRE… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.1
See all 32 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences