CVE-2005-4872
CWE-119Published: December 31, 2005· Updated: Jun 16, 2026
Official Description
Perl-Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE) library before 6.2 does not properly count the number of named capturing subpatterns, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a regular expression with a large number of named subpatterns, which triggers a buffer overflow. NOTE: this issue was originally subsumed by CVE-2006-7224, but that CVE has been REJECTED and split.
Technical Analysis
CVE-2005-4872 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.
Exploitation requires some privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.
From a weakness classification perspective (CWE-119): Buffer overflow vulnerabilities can lead to arbitrary code execution or denial of service by corrupting adjacent memory.
CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
Official Patches & Advisories
All References (26)
Quick Facts
Related CVEs (CWE-119)
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2005-4872 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts