What is CVE-2015-5073?

CVE-2015-5073 is a critical-severity vulnerability in IBM Powerkvm, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2016-12-13.

How severe is CVE-2015-5073?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.

Is CVE-2015-5073 known to be exploited?

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

Buffer overflow in IBM Powerkvm

CVE-2015-5073

Heap-based buffer overflow in the find_fixedlength function in pcre_compile.c in PCRE before 8.38 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or obtain sensitive information from heap memory and possibly bypass the ASLR protection mechanism via a crafted regular expression with an excess closing parenthesis.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2016-12-13 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.1 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.077 (94.5th percentile), scored 2026-10-26.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 95th percentile — 94.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.077 · newest: 0.077 · change: 0.000

Affected products

IBM Powerkvm — versions 2.1, 3.1
Pcre

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.securityfocus.com/bid/75430 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1132 (vendor-advisory)
www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html
www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss (Third Party Advisory)
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1025.html (vendor-advisory)
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2750.html (vendor-advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/06/26/1 (mailing-list, Mailing List)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/06/26/3 (mailing-list, Mailing List)
bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi (Exploit)
www.securitytracker.com/id/1033154 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2015-5073?: CVE-2015-5073 is a critical-severity vulnerability in IBM Powerkvm, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2016-12-13.
How severe is CVE-2015-5073?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.
Is CVE-2015-5073 known to be exploited?: 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.