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Fencer Vulns
high 7.5

CVE-2008-3142 json

Multiple buffer overflows in Python 2.5.2 and earlier on 32bit platforms allow context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (cr…

published 2008-08-01 18 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2008-3132

cvss
7.5
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
4.5%
EPSS 4.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 91%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Multiple buffer overflows in Python 2.5.2 and earlier on 32bit platforms allow context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or have unspecified other impact via a long string that leads to incorrect memory allocation during Unicode string processing, related to the unicode_resize function and the PyMem_RESIZE macro.

Patch / fix

  • python python 2.4.6, 2.5.3
  • python RHEL 3 2.2.3-6.11
  • tkinter RHEL 3 2.2.3-6.11
  • python-tools RHEL 3 2.2.3-6.11
  • python RHEL 4 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2
  • tkinter RHEL 4 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2
  • python-tools RHEL 4 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2
  • python RHEL 5 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6
  • tkinter RHEL 5 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6

red hat advisories RHSA-2009:1178RHSA-2009:1177RHSA-2009:1176

  • python SLE Module for Python 2 15 SP1, SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP1, SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 +2 more 2.7.17-7.32.2
  • python-base SLE Module for Python 2 15 SP1, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP1, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 2.7.17-7.32.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2020:0234-1

  • python openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.7.18-8.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:11202-1

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-2008-3142 updated

python: Multiple buffer overflows in unicode processing

  • Red Hat Desktop version 3 python 2.2.3-6.11, tkinter 2.2.3-6.11, python-tools 2.2.3-6.11
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1178
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) python 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6, tkinter 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6, python-tools 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1176
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 3 python 2.2.3-6.11, tkinter 2.2.3-6.11, python-tools 2.2.3-6.11
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1178
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 python 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2, tkinter 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2, python-tools 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1177
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) python 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6, tkinter 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6, python-tools 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1176
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 python 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2, tkinter 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2, python-tools 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1177
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client) python 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6, tkinter 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6, python-tools 2.4.3-24.el5_3.6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1176
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 3 python 2.2.3-6.11, tkinter 2.2.3-6.11, python-tools 2.2.3-6.11
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1178
show 3 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 python 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2, tkinter 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2, python-tools 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1177
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 3 python 2.2.3-6.11, tkinter 2.2.3-6.11, python-tools 2.2.3-6.11
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1178
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 python 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2, tkinter 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2, python-tools 2.3.4-14.7.el4_8.2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1177

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

4.49% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • bugs.python.org http://bugs.python.org/file10825/issue2620-gps02-patch.txt referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

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

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-120 Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input

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.