# CVE-2009-3294: Denial of service in n/a

> A crafted mode string in the popen API can cause a crash in PHP on Windows, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not stated
- **Attackable:** Not stated
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 22 Sep 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8qvm-3v5h-74qx

## What is CVE-2009-3294?

CVE-2009-3294 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Php Php, published on 22 Sep 2009. 

### Official description

The popen API function in TSRM/tsrm_win32.c in PHP before 5.2.11 and 5.3.x before 5.3.1, when running on certain Windows operating systems, allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted (1) "e" or (2) "er" string in the second argument (aka mode), possibly related to the _fdopen function in the Microsoft C runtime library. NOTE: this might not cross privilege boundaries except in rare cases in which the mode argument is accessible to an attacker outside of an application that uses the popen function.

Weakness: CWE-134 (Use of Externally-Controlled Format String)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-3294?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Php Php.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-3294?

No fix has been published for CVE-2009-3294 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2009-3294 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-3294 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Php Php

- [CVE-2012-2688](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2688/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2012-2376](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2376/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2011-3268](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3268/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-4143](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4143/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-5557](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5557/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-3294 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-3294 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Php Php, published on 22 Sep 2009. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-3294 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Php Php. 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-2009-3294/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3294/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-3294
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-3294
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-3294

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3294/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.