CVE-2015-5289

Multiple stack-based buffer overflows in json parsing in PostgreSQL before 9.3.x before 9.3.10 and 9.4.x before 9.4.5 allow attackers to cause a denial of service (server crash) via unspecified vectors, which are not properly handled in (1) json or (2) jsonb values.

Published: 2015-10-26 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2015-5289 is rated Moderate Risk (56/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.04%, 91th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2015-5289

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 6.57% 5.04% -1.53%
2 2026-05-13 9.97% 6.57% -3.40%
3 2026-02-25 9.97%

Full EPSS history (23 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2015-5289

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.4 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
10.0 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2015-5289

OS Trackers for CVE-2015-5289

vendor priority summary link
gentoo normal CVE-2015-5289: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-33), 1 atom(s) (dev-db/postgresql); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2015-5289
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-5289
ubuntu medium CVE-2015-5289 medium priority: Ubuntu including 4 source packages (postgresql-8.4, postgresql-9.1, postgresql-9.3, postgresql-9.4), 32 status rows across 8 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, vivid, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 22, released 7, ignored 1, needs-triage 1, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-5289

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2015-5289

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
postgresql postgresql >= 9.3.0, < 9.3.10 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 9.4.0, < 9.4.5 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 15.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:15.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2015-5289

URL Tags
http://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=08fa47c4850cea32c3116665975bca219fbf2fe6
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-November/172316.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-October/169094.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00016.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-11/msg00033.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2015/dsa-3374 Third Party Advisory
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinoct2015-2719645.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.postgresql.org/about/news/1615/ Vendor Advisory
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/release-9-3-10.html Vendor Advisory
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/release-9-4-5.html Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/77048 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033775 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2772-1 Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-33 Third Party Advisory
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