CVE-2017-6004 — The compile_bracket_matchingpath function in pcre_jit_compile

The compile_bracket_matchingpath function in pcre_jit_compile.c in PCRE through 8.x before revision 1680 (e.g., the PHP 7.1.1 bundled version) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and application crash) via a crafted regular expression.

01What is this vulnerability?

The compile_bracket_matchingpath function in pcre_jit_compile.c in PCRE through 8.x before revision 1680 (e.g., the PHP 7.1.1 bundled version) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and application crash) via a crafted regular expression.

02Affected products

No structured affected-product list available — see references below for vendor advisories.

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2017-02-16T11:59:00.147
• Last modified: 2026-05-13T00:24:29.033

09References

• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96295
• www.securitytracker.com — http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037850
• access.redhat.com — https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2486
• bugs.exim.org — https://bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2035
• lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e3…
• lists.apache.org — https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8…
• security.gentoo.org — https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201706-11
• vcs.pcre.org — https://vcs.pcre.org/pcre/code/trunk/pcre_jit_compile.c?r1=1676&r2=1680&view=pat…
• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96295
• www.securitytracker.com — http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037850