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CVE-2025-6491VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-6491: PHP · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects PHPSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium · fixed in 8.5.0 : update PHP when convenient.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
5.9Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 65% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 8.5.0, 8.4.10, 8.4.0 +5
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 13 Jul 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 2026-10-25.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
GitHubphp/php-srcpkg:github/php/php-srcOther threatsAffected
  • <8.1.33
  • >=8.1.0 <8.2.0
  • <8.2.29
  • >=8.2.0 <8.3.0
  • <8.3.23
  • >=8.3.0 <8.4.0
  • <8.4.10
  • >=8.4.0 <8.5.0
Fixed in
  • 8.1.33
  • 8.2.0
  • 8.2.29
  • 8.3.0
  • 8.3.23
  • 8.4.0
  • 8.4.10
  • 8.5.0

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

AI-suggested

2) In the interim, configure web application firewalls (WAFs) or XML gateways to enforce strict limits on the size of XML namespace prefixes and overall XML payload size, preventing excessively large inputs from reaching the PHP SOAP parser. 3) Employ input validation and sanitization at the application layer to reject malformed or unusually large XML requests. 4) Monitor application logs and network traffic for anomalous SOAP requests that could indicate attempted exploitation. 5) Consider isolating SOAP processing services in dedicated environments with resource limits to contain potential crashes and prevent cascading failures. 6) Regularly review and update incident response plans to include scenarios involving DoS attacks targeting XML parsing vulnerabilities. These targeted mitigations go beyond generic advice by focusing on controlling XML input size and applying layered defenses specific to SOAP XML processing.

Description

In PHP versions:8.1.* before 8.1.33, 8.2.* before 8.2.29, 8.3.* before 8.3.23, 8.4.* before 8.4.10 when parsing XML data in SOAP extensions, overly large (>2Gb) XML namespace prefix may lead to null pointer dereference. This may lead to crashes and affect the availability of the target server.

References

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