# CVE-2017-9229: Null dereference in n/a

> A null pointer dereference in the Oniguruma library allows attackers to cause a denial of service via crafted regular expressions.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 May 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2017-9229, CLSA-2026-1781529077, DEBIAN-CVE-2017-9229, GHSA-28pc-jv2f-hv8j, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-9229

## What is CVE-2017-9229?

CVE-2017-9229 is a high-severity vulnerability in Php Php, published on 24 May 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Oniguruma 6.2.0, as used in Oniguruma-mod in Ruby through 2.4.1 and mbstring in PHP through 7.1.5. A SIGSEGV occurs in left_adjust_char_head() during regular expression compilation. Invalid handling of reg->dmax in forward_search_range() could result in an invalid pointer dereference, normally as an immediate denial-of-service condition.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-9229?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Oniguruma Project Oniguruma, Php Php, Ruby-Lang Ruby.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-9229?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-9229 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-9229 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Php Php

- [CVE-2017-9224](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9224/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-9225](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9225/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-9226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9226/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-9227](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9227/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-9228](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9228/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-9229 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-9229 is a high-severity vulnerability in Php Php, published on 24 May 2017. 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-2017-9229 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-2017-9229/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9229/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-9229
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-9229
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-9229

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9229/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.