pcre: infinite recursion in JIT compiler when processing certain patterns (8.38/21)
Published Dec 2, 2015
9.8
CRITICALCVSS 3.1
EPSS 3.89%
Description
PCRE before 8.38 mishandles the /(?:|a|){100}x/ pattern and related patterns, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite recursion) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted regular expression, as demonstrated by a JavaScript RegExp object encountered by Konqueror.
Affected products
No data.
Configuration 1
- ≤ 8.37
Configuration 2
- 22
No data.
Red Hat Directory Server 8
pcre
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
pcre
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
glib2
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
pcre
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
glib2
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
pcre
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
virtuoso-opensource
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 1
httpd
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2
httpd
Not affected
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 3
pcre
Not affected
Red Hat Software Collections
php54-php
Not affected
Red Hat Software Collections
php55-php
Not affected
Red Hat Software Collections
rh-mariadb100-mariadb
Not affected
Red Hat Software Collections
rh-mariadb101-mariadb
Not affected
Red Hat Software Collections
rh-php56-php
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Directory Server 8 | pcre | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | pcre | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | glib2 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | pcre | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | glib2 | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | pcre | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | virtuoso-opensource | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 1 | httpd | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2 | httpd | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 3 | pcre | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Software Collections | php54-php | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Software Collections | php55-php | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Software Collections | rh-mariadb100-mariadb | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Software Collections | rh-mariadb101-mariadb | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Software Collections | rh-php56-php | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
No CVSS v3.0 score for this CVE.
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2022–2026- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (10 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 3.89% (0.03887) | 89.91th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 3.89% (0.03887) | 88.84th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 29, 2025 | 1.80% (0.01805) | 81.96th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 3.17% (0.03169) | 86.08th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 2.81% (0.02815) | 91.03th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 2.81% (0.02815) | 89.04th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 1.41% (0.01408) | 72.89th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 17, 2023 | 1.41% (0.01408) | 72.44th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 1.32% (0.01319) | 69.22th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 1.32% (0.01319) | 44.98th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
References (12)
- http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2016-January/174931.html vendor-advisoryThird Party Advisory
- http://vcs.pcre.org/pcre/code/trunk/ChangeLog?view=markup Release NotesVendor Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/11/29/1 mailing-listMailing ListThird Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/82990 vdb-entryThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8389 Vendor Advisory
- https://bto.bluecoat.com/security-advisory/sa128 Permissions RequiredThird Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1287659 Issue Tracking
- https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/kb/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c05240731 Third Party Advisory
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8389
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201607-02 vendor-advisoryThird Party Advisory
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230216-0002/
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8389
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2016-January/174931.html | vendor-advisoryThird Party Advisory | |
| http://vcs.pcre.org/pcre/code/trunk/ChangeLog?view=markup | Release NotesVendor Advisory | |
| http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/11/29/1 | mailing-listMailing ListThird Party Advisory | |
| http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/82990 | vdb-entryThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry | |
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8389 | Vendor Advisory | |
| https://bto.bluecoat.com/security-advisory/sa128 | Permissions RequiredThird Party Advisory | |
| https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1287659 | Issue Tracking | |
| https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/kb/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c05240731 | Third Party Advisory | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8389 | ||
| https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201607-02 | vendor-advisoryThird Party Advisory | |
| https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230216-0002/ | ||
| https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8389 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.