Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
high 7.5

CVE-2005-2491 json

Integer overflow in pcre_compile.c in Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) before 6.2, as used in multiple products such as Python, E…

published 2005-08-22 21 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2005-2492

cvss
7.5
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
4.3%
EPSS 4.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 91%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Integer overflow in pcre_compile.c in Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) before 6.2, as used in multiple products such as Python, Ethereal, and PHP, allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via quantifier values in regular expressions, which leads to a heap-based buffer overflow.

Patch / fix

  • pcre3 Debian 12 6.3-1
  • goffice Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 0.1.0-3
  • gnumeric Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.5.1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2005-2491

  • python RHEL 3 2.2.3-6.2
  • python RHEL 4 2.3.4-14.2
  • tkinter RHEL 3 2.2.3-6.2
  • tkinter RHEL 4 2.3.4-14.2
  • python-tools RHEL 3 2.2.3-6.2
  • python-tools RHEL 4 2.3.4-14.2
  • pcre RHEL 3 3.9-10.2
  • pcre RHEL 4 4.5-3.2.RHEL4

red hat advisories RHSA-2006:0197RHSA-2005:761RHSA-2005:358

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2005-2491 updated

pcre heap overflow

  • Red Hat Desktop version 3 pcre 3.9-10.2, python 2.2.3-6.2, tkinter 2.2.3-6.2, python-tools 2.2.3-6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 3 pcre 3.9-10.2, python 2.2.3-6.2, tkinter 2.2.3-6.2, python-tools 2.2.3-6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 python 2.3.4-14.2, pcre 4.5-3.2.RHEL4, tkinter 2.3.4-14.2, exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 python 2.3.4-14.2, pcre 4.5-3.2.RHEL4, tkinter 2.3.4-14.2, exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 3 pcre 3.9-10.2, python 2.2.3-6.2, tkinter 2.2.3-6.2, python-tools 2.2.3-6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 python 2.3.4-14.2, pcre 4.5-3.2.RHEL4, tkinter 2.3.4-14.2, exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, +1 more
    +2 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 3 pcre 3.9-10.2, python 2.2.3-6.2, tkinter 2.2.3-6.2, python-tools 2.2.3-6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 python 2.3.4-14.2, pcre 4.5-3.2.RHEL4, tkinter 2.3.4-14.2, exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2005:761

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

4.34% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 7.5 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.