# CVE-2011-4153: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via crafted input triggering a NULL pointer dereference in PHP's string handling functions.

- **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 needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Jan 2012
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rh93-rrxr-rjg3

## What is CVE-2011-4153?

CVE-2011-4153 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Php Php, published on 18 Jan 2012. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

PHP 5.3.8 does not always check the return value of the zend_strndup function, which might allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via crafted input to an application that performs strndup operations on untrusted string data, as demonstrated by the define function in zend_builtin_functions.c, and unspecified functions in ext/soap/php_sdl.c, ext/standard/syslog.c, ext/standard/browscap.c, ext/oci8/oci8.c, ext/com_dotnet/com_typeinfo.c, and main/php_open_temporary_file.c.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-4153?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Php Php.

## How do I fix CVE-2011-4153?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2011-4153 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-4153 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- PHP 5.3.8 - Multiple Vulnerabilities (exploitdb)

## 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-2011-4153 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2011-4153 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Php Php, published on 18 Jan 2012. 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-2011-4153 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-2011-4153/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4153/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-4153
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-4153
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2011-4153

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4153/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.