# CVE-2005-4872: Memory corruption in n/a

> A buffer overflow in the PCRE library allows attackers to cause a denial of service via crafted regular expressions with many named subpatterns.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Nov 2007
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2005-4872, GHSA-m5xf-8w89-qqxm

## What is CVE-2005-4872?

CVE-2005-4872 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Nov 2007. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2005-4872?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Pcre Pcre.

## How do I fix CVE-2005-4872?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2005-4872 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2005-4872 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2015-3210](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3210/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-3191](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-3191/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-7245](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7245/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-7246](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7246/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-11164](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11164/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2005-4872 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2005-4872 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Nov 2007. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2005-4872 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-4872/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-4872/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2005-4872
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2005-4872
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2005-4872

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-4872/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.