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CVE Record

CVE-2026-7568: Signed integer overflow in metaphone()

In PHP versions 8.2.* before 8.2.31, 8.3.* before 8.3.31, 8.4.* before 8.4.21, and 8.5.* before 8.5.6, the metaphone() function in ext/standard/metaphone.c uses a signed int variable to track the current position within the input string. If a string longer than 2,147,483,647 bytes is passed, a signed integer overflow occurs, resulting in undefined behavior. This can lead to an out-of-bounds read, causing a segmentation fault or access to unrelated memory, and may affect the availability of the PHP process.

HighCVSS 7.5Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2026-7568 is a PHP bug in metaphone(), a text-processing function. If an affected PHP process is made to process an input string larger than 2,147,483,647 bytes through this function, it may crash. The main business risk is service availability, not confirmed data theft or code execution.

Executive priority

Treat as a high-priority availability issue for exposed PHP services, especially internet-facing applications using phonetic matching. Patch during the next urgent maintenance window; accelerate if validation finds attacker-controlled metaphone() input.

Technical view

PHP metaphone() uses a signed int for input position tracking. Inputs over 2,147,483,647 bytes can trigger signed integer overflow and undefined behavior, potentially causing out-of-bounds reads, segmentation faults, or unrelated memory access. Affected branches are PHP 8.2 before 8.2.31, 8.3 before 8.3.31, 8.4 before 8.4.21, and 8.5 before 8.5.6.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely where affected PHP versions run application code that passes attacker-controlled or oversized strings into metaphone(). Systems using PHP but not this function, or enforcing strict input size limits before this code path, are less likely to be practically exposed.

Exploitation context

The bundle marks KEV as false and provides no evidence of active exploitation. CVSS rates it network-reachable with low complexity and no authentication, but practical exploitation depends on reaching a metaphone() call with an extremely large string.

Researcher notes

Evidence supports denial of service via crash and possible unrelated memory reads from undefined behavior. The sources do not establish active exploitation, code execution, or broad exposure beyond applications reaching metaphone() with very large input.

Mitigation direction

  • Upgrade PHP to 8.2.31, 8.3.31, 8.4.21, 8.5.6, or later.
  • Apply relevant Red Hat security errata for packaged PHP deployments.
  • Review vendor guidance for distribution-specific fixed package names and backports.
  • Limit untrusted request, upload, and field sizes before PHP text-processing code.
  • Prioritize internet-facing PHP services that perform phonetic or search matching.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory PHP runtime versions across servers, containers, and build images.
  • Search application code and dependencies for metaphone() usage.
  • Confirm whether any metaphone() input can be attacker-controlled or oversized.
  • Verify patched PHP package versions after remediation.
  • Check edge and application limits for multi-gigabyte request bodies or fields.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
8

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

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 · low confidence lookup

CWE-125: 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.

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cwe · low confidence lookup

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.

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2026-7568 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
7.5 (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:H

Official CVE source material

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.

2CVSS vectors
5Timeline events
2ADP providers
12Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

2 official scores

We 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.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
7.5CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6redhat-SADP
6.3CVSS 4.0MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/RE:L/U:Amber——php

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 4.0 score

6.3Medium
CVSS 4.0 vector shape for CVE-2026-7568Attack VectorAttack ComplexityAttack RequirementsPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionVS ConfidentialityVS IntegrityVS AvailabilitySS ConfidentialitySS IntegritySS Availability

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/RE:L/U:Amber

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Attack Requirements
NonePresent
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NonePassiveActive
VS Confidentiality
HighLowNone
VS Integrity
HighLowNone
VS Availability
HighLowNone
SS Confidentiality
HighLowNone
SS Integrity
HighLowNone
SS Availability
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Made public.

  3. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  4. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Reported to Red Hat.

  5. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc
redhat-SADPphp: signed integer overflow in metaphone()
other:Red Hat severity ratingcvssV3_1
  • 2026-05-10T05:01:02.287Z: Reported to Red Hat.
  • 2026-05-10T03:42:36.433Z: Made public.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
PHP GroupPHP8.2.*, 8.3.*, 8.4.*, 8.5.*affected
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-125CWE-190

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-125 · source CWE mapping

Out-of-bounds Read

Out-of-bounds Read represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs
CWE-190 · source CWE mapping

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.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs