What is CVE-2015-8388?

CVE-2015-8388 is a vulnerability in Oracle Linux, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. Published 2015-12-02.

Is CVE-2015-8388 known to be exploited?

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

Buffer overflow in Oracle Linux

CVE-2015-8388

PCRE before 8.38 mishandles the /(?=di(?<=(?1))|(?=(.))))/ pattern and related patterns with an unmatched closing parenthesis, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (buffer overflow) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted regular expression, as demonstrated by a JavaScript RegExp object encountered by Konqueror.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2015-12-02 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v2 metric

CVSS v2 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P. This CVE predates CVSS v3 and has no v3 score from NVD.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.066 (93.6th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 94th percentile — 93.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.066 · newest: 0.066 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Oracle Linux — versions 7
Pcre Perl Compatible Regular Expression Library

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/11/29/1 (mailing-list, Third Party Advisory)
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1132 (vendor-advisory)
www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html (Third Party Advisory)
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.securityfocus.com/bid/85576 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
bto.bluecoat.com/security-advisory/sa128 (Third Party Advisory)
vcs.pcre.org/pcre/code/trunk/ChangeLog (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201607-02 (vendor-advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2015-8388?: CVE-2015-8388 is a vulnerability in Oracle Linux, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. Published 2015-12-02.
Is CVE-2015-8388 known to be exploited?: 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.