Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This PHP flaw can let unauthenticated web requests consume disk space on servers that allow HTTP file uploads. Oversized upload field names or filenames can cause PHP to hit memory limits and leave temporary upload files behind. The main business risk is service disruption, not data theft.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate availability risk. Patch during the next normal security maintenance window, sooner for public upload-heavy services or systems with limited disk headroom.
Technical view
Affected PHP 7.2.x before 7.2.31, 7.3.x before 7.3.18, and 7.4.x before 7.4.6 may fail to clean upload temporary files after out-of-memory handling during request parsing. The issue is tracked as CWE-190 and CWE-400, with CVSS 3.1 score 5.3 and availability impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on internet-facing PHP applications that permit HTTP file uploads and run affected PHP versions or unpatched distribution packages. Systems without upload handling, or already updated beyond the fixed versions, are less likely to be exposed.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Abuse would require sending crafted upload requests that trigger memory exhaustion and temporary-file accumulation, potentially filling disk over repeated requests.
Researcher notes
Evidence is strong for affected PHP version ranges and availability impact. The provided sources do not establish confidentiality or integrity impact, active exploitation, or a product-specific exploit chain beyond PHP upload request parsing behavior.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade PHP beyond the affected version ranges or install vendor security updates.
- Prioritize internet-facing PHP upload endpoints and shared hosting environments.
- Review OS vendor advisories for distribution-specific fixed package versions.
- Monitor and clean upload temporary directories if disk pressure is observed.
- Confirm application upload limits and PHP memory limits are operationally appropriate.
Validation and detection
- Inventory deployed PHP versions across web servers and containers.
- Identify public routes that accept HTTP file uploads.
- Check whether upload temporary directories share critical system partitions.
- Review disk utilization trends around PHP upload temporary paths.
- Verify installed packages match Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, or vendor fixed releases.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-190: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCWE-400: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-11048 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L3.91.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- FEDORA-2020-8838d072d5CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_FEDORA
- FEDORA-2020-9fa7f4e25cCVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_FEDORA
- USN-4375-1CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_UBUNTU
- [debian-lts-announce] 20200629 [SECURITY] [DLA 2261-1] php5 security updateCVE reference · mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- DSA-4717CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_DEBIAN
- DSA-4719CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_DEBIAN
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2020.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=78875CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=78876CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200528-0006/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2021-14CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Integer Overflow or Wraparound
Integer Overflow or Wraparound represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.