CVE-2026-7259 | Null pointer dereference in php_mb_check_encoding() via mb_ereg_search_init()

In PHP versions 8.2.* before 8.2.31, 8.3.* before 8.3.31, 8.4.* before 8.4.21, and 8.5.* before 8.5.6, a mismatch between encoding lists in Oniguruma and mbfl leads to  a NULL pointer dereference, resulting in a segmentation fault and denial of service. The vulnerability is exploitable when user-controlled input can influence the encoding passed to mb_regex_encoding().

Published: 2026-05-10 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-7259 is rated Low Risk (14.1/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2026-7259

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 2026-05-16 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2026-05-10 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-7259

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
2.1 4.0 LOW
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:Y/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation depends on constrained or hard-to-reproduce conditions.
Attack requirements (AT:P)
Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:A)
User interaction is required in an active way.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:N)
No confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:N)
No integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:L)
Limited availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:L)
Limited availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X)
Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:Y)
Yes: all four kill-chain steps (reconnaissance, weaponization, delivery, exploitation) can be automated.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:X)
Not evaluated.
Value density (supplemental) (V:X)
Not evaluated.
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X)
Not evaluated.
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:AMBER)
Amber: provider rates moderate urgency.
 — — [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful 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.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-7259

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-7259

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2026-7259 unimportant priority: Debian including 3 source packages (php7.4, php8.2, php8.4), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-7259
suse high CVE-2026-7259 severity important: SUSE including 47 source package names (php8-8.5.6-1.1, php8-bcmath-8.5.6-1.1, …), 47 product×package rows across 1 product lines (openSUSE Tumbleweed): Fixed 47. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-7259/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-7259 medium priority: Ubuntu including 8 source packages (php5, php7.0, …), 44 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 28, released 7, needs-triage 5, not-affected 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-7259

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-7259

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
php php >= 8.2.0, < 8.2.31 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
php php >= 8.3.0, < 8.3.31 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
php php >= 8.4.0, < 8.4.21 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
php php >= 8.5.0, < 8.5.6 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-7259

cvelogic Threat Intelligence