Is CVE-2009-3294 being actively exploited?

CVE-2009-3294 is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2009-3294?

CVE-2009-3294 has a CVSS 2.0 base score of 5.0 (MEDIUM).

CVE-2009-3294

MEDIUM · CVSS 5.0EPSS 2.7%EU EUVD

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.

Key facts

CVSS score: 5.0 (v2.0)
Severity: MEDIUM
CVSS vector: AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Weakness (CWE): CWE-134
EPSS score: 2.7% (86th percentile)
In CISA KEV: No
In EU EUVD: Yes (EUVD-2009-3276)
Published: September 22, 2009
NVD last modified: June 16, 2026
Status: Modified

EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)

This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2009-3276 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on August 7, 2024.

View on the EU Vulnerability Database

Affected products

microsoft / windows 7
microsoft / windows server 2008
microsoft / windows xp
php / php

References

http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=44683(Exploit, Vendor Advisory)
http://news.php.net/php.announce/79(Vendor Advisory)
http://svn.php.net/viewvc?view=revision&revision=287779(Vendor Advisory)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/09/20/1(Mailing List, Patch)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/11/20/2(Mailing List)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/11/20/3(Mailing List)
http://www.osvdb.org/58188(Broken Link)
http://www.php.net/ChangeLog-5.php(Vendor Advisory)
http://www.php.net/ChangeLog-5.php#5.2.11(Vendor Advisory)
http://www.php.net/releases/5_2_11.php(Patch, Vendor Advisory)
http://www.php.net/releases/5_3_1.php(Vendor Advisory)

Last updated September 17, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS

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