VulnerabilityPublished 10 Oct 2024Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2024-9026: PHP · Improper Neutralization of Null Byte or NUL Character

Affects PHPSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.3 Low : upgrade to 8.1.30 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.3Low

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 41% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 8.1.30

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Oct 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade the Debian debian/php package to 8.1.30.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Debiandebian/php`pkg:deb/debian/php`Other threats	Affected <8.1.30	Fixed in 8.1.30

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Upgrade PHP to the fixed versions: 8.1.30 or later, 8.2.24 or later, or 8.3.12 or later to ensure the vulnerability is patched.
Review and harden PHP-FPM configurations, especially the catch_workers_output setting; consider disabling it if not strictly necessary.
If using syslog for PHP-FPM logging, verify the integrity and completeness of logs regularly and implement additional log validation mechanisms.
Employ host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) to monitor for suspicious local activity that could precede exploitation attempts.
Restrict local access to PHP-FPM servers to trusted administrators and use strong access controls to minimize the risk of local exploitation.
Implement centralized logging with tamper-evident storage to detect any log manipulation attempts.
Conduct regular audits of logging infrastructure and ensure that log retention policies comply with regulatory requirements.
Educate system administrators about this vulnerability and the importance of timely patching and log integrity monitoring.

Description

In PHP versions 8.1.* before 8.1.30, 8.2.* before 8.2.24, 8.3.* before 8.3.12, when using PHP-FPM SAPI and it is configured to catch workers output through catch_workers_output = yes, it may be possible to pollute the final log or remove up to 4 characters from the log messages by manipulating log message content. Additionally, if PHP-FPM is configured to use syslog output, it may be possible to further remove log data using the same vulnerability.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-9026 lies in the potential degradation of log integrity within PHP-FPM environments. Many European enterprises and public sector entities rely on PHP-based web applications and services, often using PHP-FPM for performance. Compromised logs can obscure malicious activities or operational issues, reducing the effectiveness of security monitoring, incident response, and compliance auditing. This is particularly critical for organizations subject to strict regulatory requirements such as GDPR, NIS Directive, or sector-specific standards that mandate reliable logging. While the vulnerability does not directly expose sensitive data or disrupt service availability, the loss or corruption of log data can delay detection of breaches or insider threats, increasing risk exposure. Attackers with local access could exploit this to cover tracks after gaining foothold, complicating forensic investigations. The impact is more pronounced in environments where PHP-FPM logs are forwarded to centralized syslog servers, as the vulnerability allows further log data removal. Overall, the threat undermines trust in log data integrity, which is foundational for cybersecurity operations in European organizations.

CWE-158Improper Neutralization of Null Byte or NUL Character (opens in a new tab)
Variant weakness
The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes NUL characters or null bytes when they are sent to a downstream component.
Developers should anticipate that null characters or null bytes will be injected/removed/manipulated in the input vectors of their product. Use an appropriate combination of denylists and allowlists to ensure only valid, expected and appropriate input is processed by the system.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
Server Side Request Forgery Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards (opens in a new tab)
Cross Site Scripting Prevention (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Embedding NULL Bytes (opens in a new tab)
Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-117Improper Output Neutralization for Logs (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A09:2025: Security Logging & Alerting Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product constructs a log message from external input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements when the message is written to a log file.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Implementation · Output Encoding
Use and specify an output encoding that can be handled by the downstream component that is reading the output. Common encodings include ISO-8859-1, UTF-7, and UTF-8.
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Content Security Policy (opens in a new tab)
Application Logging Vocabulary (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V7.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V14.4.6 (opens in a new tab)
V14.4.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Audit Log Manipulation (opens in a new tab)
Web Server Logs Tampering (opens in a new tab)
Log Injection-Tampering-Forging (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Nov 2025, 23:13 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-158, CWE-117

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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