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CVE-2009-5016

22
FAUCET Score

CVE-2009-5016 describes an integer overflow in the xml_utf8_decode function within PHP versions prior to 5.2.11, specifically affecting the ext/xml/xml.c component. This flaw allows remote attackers to bypass cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection protections by crafting overlong UTF-8 encoded strings. With a CVSS score of 6.8 (Medium), this vulnerability has a network attack vector, medium attack complexity, and can lead to partial compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. There is no evidence of active exploitation, public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), or significant community discussion or media coverage, indicating low current attention.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
<= 5.2.10CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:php:php:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
2.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:php:php:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
2.0b10CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:php:php:2.0b10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
3.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:php:php:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 2.0

6.8MEDIUM

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

Confidentiality Impact
PARTIAL
Integrity Impact
PARTIAL
Availability Impact
PARTIAL
Access Vector
NETWORK
Access Complexity
MEDIUM
Authentication
NONE
Exploitability Score
8.6
Impact Score
6.4
CvssVersion
2.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
2.65%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
84.1%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-28
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0265 is in the 75th percentile among its peer group of 19,958 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.0 Bluesky, 0.0 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (3)

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4Fixed in: php-0:4.3.9-3.31
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: php-0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: php-0:5.3.2-6.el6_0.1
View patch

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2009-5016Moderate

php: XSS and SQL injection bypass via crafted overlong UTF-8 encoded string

Sep 27, 2009

References

bugs.php.net / bug.php
Exploit
lists.fedoraproject.org / pipermail/package-announce/2011-January/052836.html
lists.fedoraproject.org / pipermail/package-announce/2011-January/052845.html
secunia.com / advisories/42410
secunia.com / advisories/42812
sirdarckcat.blogspot.com / 2009/10/couple-of-unicode-issues-on-php-and.html
Exploit
blackhat.com / presentations/bh-usa-09/VELANAVA/BHUSA09-VelaNava-FavoriteXSS-SLIDES.pdf
Exploit
redhat.com / support/errata/RHSA-2010-0919.html
redhat.com / support/errata/RHSA-2011-0195.html
securityfocus.com / bid/44889
ubuntu.com / usn/USN-1042-1
vupen.com / english/advisories/2010/3081
vupen.com / english/advisories/2011/0020
vupen.com / english/advisories/2011/0021
vupen.com / english/advisories/2011/0077