CVE-2019-3556
CWE-22Published: October 26, 2021· Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Official Description
HHVM supports the use of an "admin" server which accepts administrative requests over HTTP. One of those request handlers, dump-pcre-cache, can be used to output cached regular expressions from the current execution context into a file. The handler takes a parameter which specifies where on the filesystem to write this data. The parameter is not validated, allowing a malicious user to overwrite arbitrary files where the user running HHVM has write access. This issue affects HHVM versions prior to 4.56.2, all versions between 4.57.0 and 4.78.0, as well as 4.79.0, 4.80.0, 4.81.0, 4.82.0, and 4.83.0.
Technical Analysis
CVE-2019-3556 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.
Exploitation requires low privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.
A successful exploit results in full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 8.1.
CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
Official Patches & Advisories
All References (6)
Quick Facts
Related CVEs (CWE-22)
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2019-3556 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts