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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.8

CVE-2008-2108 in the critical feed json

The GENERATE_SEED macro in PHP 4.x before 4.4.8 and 5.x before 5.2.5, when running on 64-bit systems, performs a multiplication that genera…

published 2008-05-07 18 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2008-2105

cvss
9.8
version 3.1, 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

The GENERATE_SEED macro in PHP 4.x before 4.4.8 and 5.x before 5.2.5, when running on 64-bit systems, performs a multiplication that generates a portion of zero bits during conversion due to insufficient precision, which produces 24 bits of entropy and simplifies brute force attacks against protection mechanisms that use the rand and mt_rand functions.

Patch / fix

  • php php 4.4.8, 5.2.5
  • php RHEL 1 APPLICATION_STACK 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10
  • php-gd RHEL 1 APPLICATION_STACK 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10
  • php-cli RHEL 1 APPLICATION_STACK 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10
  • php-dba RHEL 1 APPLICATION_STACK 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10
  • php-pdo RHEL 1 APPLICATION_STACK 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10
  • php-xml RHEL 1 APPLICATION_STACK 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10
  • php-imap RHEL 1 APPLICATION_STACK 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10
  • php-ldap RHEL 1 APPLICATION_STACK 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10

red hat advisories RHSA-2008:0582RHSA-2008:0546RHSA-2008:0545RHSA-2008:0544RHSA-2008:0505

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-2008-2108 updated

PHP weak 64 bit random seed

  • Red Hat Application Stack v1 for Enterprise Linux AS (v.4) php 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-gd 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-cli 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-dba 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-pdo 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-xml 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, +12 more Red Hat Application Stack v1 for Enterprise Linux ES (v.4) php 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-gd 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-cli 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-dba 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-pdo 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, php-xml 5.1.6-3.el4s1.10, +12 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0582
  • Red Hat Desktop version 3 php 4.3.2-48.ent, php-imap 4.3.2-48.ent, php-ldap 4.3.2-48.ent, php-odbc 4.3.2-48.ent, php-mysql 4.3.2-48.ent, php-pgsql 4.3.2-48.ent Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) php 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-gd 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-cli 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-dba 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-pdo 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-xml 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, +12 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0544
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (Advanced Server) version 2.1 php 4.1.2-2.20, php-imap 4.1.2-2.20, php-ldap 4.1.2-2.20, php-odbc 4.1.2-2.20, php-mysql 4.1.2-2.20, php-pgsql 4.1.2-2.20, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0546
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 3 php 4.3.2-48.ent, php-imap 4.3.2-48.ent, php-ldap 4.3.2-48.ent, php-odbc 4.3.2-48.ent, php-mysql 4.3.2-48.ent, php-pgsql 4.3.2-48.ent
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0544
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 php 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-gd 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-imap 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-ldap 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-odbc 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-pear 4.3.9-3.22.12, +7 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 php 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-gd 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-imap 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-ldap 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-odbc 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-pear 4.3.9-3.22.12, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0545
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client) php 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-gd 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-cli 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-dba 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-pdo 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, php-xml 5.1.6-20.el5_2.1, +12 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0544
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 2.1 php 4.1.2-2.20, php-imap 4.1.2-2.20, php-ldap 4.1.2-2.20, php-odbc 4.1.2-2.20, php-mysql 4.1.2-2.20, php-pgsql 4.1.2-2.20, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0546
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 3 php 4.3.2-48.ent, php-imap 4.3.2-48.ent, php-ldap 4.3.2-48.ent, php-odbc 4.3.2-48.ent, php-mysql 4.3.2-48.ent, php-pgsql 4.3.2-48.ent
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0544
show 5 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 php 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-gd 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-imap 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-ldap 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-odbc 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-pear 4.3.9-3.22.12, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0545
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 2.1 php 4.1.2-2.20, php-imap 4.1.2-2.20, php-ldap 4.1.2-2.20, php-odbc 4.1.2-2.20, php-mysql 4.1.2-2.20, php-pgsql 4.1.2-2.20, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0546
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 3 php 4.3.2-48.ent, php-imap 4.3.2-48.ent, php-ldap 4.3.2-48.ent, php-odbc 4.3.2-48.ent, php-mysql 4.3.2-48.ent, php-pgsql 4.3.2-48.ent
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0544
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 php 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-gd 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-imap 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-ldap 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-odbc 4.3.9-3.22.12, php-pear 4.3.9-3.22.12, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0545
  • Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1 php 4.1.2-2.20, php-imap 4.1.2-2.20, php-ldap 4.1.2-2.20, php-odbc 4.1.2-2.20, php-mysql 4.1.2-2.20, php-pgsql 4.1.2-2.20, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0546

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

4.29% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • archives.neohapsis.com http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2008-05/0103.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • sektioneins.de http://www.sektioneins.de/advisories/SE-2008-02.txt referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.5 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

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.