What is CVE-2014-4049?

CVE-2014-4049 is a vulnerability in PHP, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. Published 2014-06-18.

Is CVE-2014-4049 known to be exploited?

2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Buffer overflow in PHP

CVE-2014-4049

Heap-based buffer overflow in the php_parserr function in ext/standard/dns.c in PHP 5.6.0beta4 and earlier allows remote servers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted DNS TXT record, related to the dns_get_record function.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2014-06-18 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v2 metric

CVSS v2 base score 5.1 (Medium). Vector: AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P. This CVE predates CVSS v3 and has no v3 score from NVD.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.109 (95.7th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Moderate probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — watch for active exploitation reports. 96th percentile — 95.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.109 · newest: 0.109 · change: 0.000

Affected products

PHP — versions 5.6.0
Debian Linux — versions 7.0, 8.0
openSUSE — versions 11.3

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-119 — Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

secunia.com/advisories/59329 (Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2014-07/msg00001.html (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
secunia.com/advisories/59418 (Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
support.apple.com/HT204659 (Third Party Advisory)
www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss (Third Party Advisory)
secunia.com/advisories/59496 (Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
www.securitytracker.com/id/1030435 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1766.html (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
secunia.com/advisories/59652 (Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/68007 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2014-4049?: CVE-2014-4049 is a vulnerability in PHP, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. Published 2014-06-18.
Is CVE-2014-4049 known to be exploited?: 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.