CVE-2012-0788

PHP < 5.3.9 - Denial of Service via PDORow and Session Interaction

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2012-0788. PoCs published by anonymous.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit triggers a denial-of-service (DoS) in PHP by leveraging a session serialization issue with PDO_Mysql objects. The vulnerable code causes a crash when a PDO_Mysql statement is stored in a session using FETCH_LAZY mode.

Description

The PDORow implementation in PHP before 5.3.9 does not properly interact with the session feature, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted application that uses a PDO driver for a fetch and then calls the session_start function, as demonstrated by a crash of the Apache HTTP Server.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by anonymous · phpdosphp
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/36682

This exploit triggers a denial-of-service (DoS) in PHP by leveraging a session serialization issue with PDO_Mysql objects. The vulnerable code causes a crash when a PDO_Mysql statement is stored in a session using FETCH_LAZY mode.

Classification
Working Poc 90%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: PHP 5.3.8 (and potentially other versions)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: PHP with PDO_Mysql enabled · Ability to execute PHP code on the target server
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (6)

Core 6
Core References
Various Sources x_refsource_confirm
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=55776
Third Party Advisory third-party-advisory x_refsource_secunia
http://secunia.com/advisories/48668
Vendor Advisory x_refsource_confirm
http://www.php.net/ChangeLog-5.php#5.3.9
Issue Tracking x_refsource_confirm
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=783605

Scores

EPSS 0.0895
EPSS Percentile 94.6%

Details

CWE
CWE-20
Status published
Products (38)
php/php 5.0.0 (8 CPE variants)
php/php 5.0.1
php/php 5.0.2
php/php 5.0.3
php/php 5.0.4
php/php 5.0.5
php/php 5.1.1
php/php 5.1.2
php/php 5.1.3
php/php 5.1.4
... and 28 more
Published Feb 14, 2012
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026