CVE-2020-7059 | OOB read in php_strip_tags_ex

Exp

When using fgetss() function to read data with stripping tags, in PHP versions 7.2.x below 7.2.27, 7.3.x below 7.3.14 and 7.4.x below 7.4.2 it is possible to supply data that will cause this function to read past the allocated buffer. This may lead to information disclosure or crash.

Published: 2020-02-10 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-7059 is rated High Exploit Risk (70.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.37%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-7059

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-7059

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 2026-03-04 2.12% 2.37% +0.25%
2 2026-03-01 2.37% 2.12% -0.25%
3 2026-02-04 2.37%

Full EPSS history (44 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-7059

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
3.9 2.5 [email protected]
9.1 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 5.2 [email protected]
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-2020-7059

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-7059

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2020-7059: 1 source package rows (php7); 1 state rows across 1 repos (edge-community); fixed 1, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-7059
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-7059 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (php7.4), 1 status rows across 1 suites (bullseye): resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-7059
gentoo high CVE-2020-7059: 1 GLSA(s) (202003-57), 1 atom(s) (dev-lang/php); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-7059
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-7059
suse medium CVE-2020-7059 severity moderate: SUSE including 455 source package names (apache2-mod_php5-5.2.14-111.62.1, apache2-mod_php5-5.5.14-109.68.1, …), 1397 product×package rows across 35 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (35 product lines)): Fixed 1040, Known Not Affected 357. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-7059/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-7059 medium priority: Ubuntu including 4 source packages (php5, php7.0, php7.2, php7.3), 20 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, eoan, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 12, released 6, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-7059

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-7059

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
php php >= 7.2.0, < 7.2.27 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
php php >= 7.3.0, < 7.3.14 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
php php >= 7.4.0, < 7.4.2 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
tenable tenable.sc < 5.19.0 cpe:2.3:a:tenable:tenable.sc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_diameter_signaling_router >= 8.0, <= 8.4 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_diameter_signaling_router:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-7059

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-03/msg00023.html Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=79099 Exploit Vendor Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/02/msg00030.html Third Party Advisory
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Feb/27 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Feb/31 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2021/Jan/3 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-57 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200221-0002/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4279-1/ Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4626 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4628 Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2020.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2021-14 Patch Third Party Advisory
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