CVE-2026-7261 | SoapServer session-persisted object use-after-free via SOAP header fault

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, when SoapServer is configured with SOAP_PERSISTENCE_SESSION, the handler object is persisted across requests via session storage. However, in the case SOAP requests results in an error, the persistance is handled incorrectly, resulting in freeing the object while keeping a pointer to it, which may lead to use-after-free. This may lead to memory corruption, information disclosure, or process crashes, with confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact on the vulnerable system.

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-2026-7261 is rated Low Risk (31.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2026-7261

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% 0.06% +0.02%
2 2026-05-10 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-7261

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.3 4.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/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:P/AU:Y/R:X/V:X/RE:M/U:Amber Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:P)
Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:L)
Limited confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:L)
Limited integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:L)
Limited availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:L)
Limited confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:L)
Limited 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:P)
Present: impact meets IEC 61508 marginal, critical, or catastrophic safety consequence levels.
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:M)
Moderate effort (remote update, disable subsystem, simple upgrade with minor service impact).
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:AMBER)
Amber: provider rates moderate urgency.
 — — [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-7261

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-7261

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-7261 not yet assigned 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-2026-7261
suse high CVE-2026-7261 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-2026-7261/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-7261 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, needs-triage 9, released 7. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-7261

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-7261

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-2026-7261

cvelogic Threat Intelligence