Description
Perl-Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE) library before 6.7 does not properly calculate the compiled memory allocation for regular expressions that involve a quantified "subpattern containing a named recursion or subroutine reference," which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (error or crash).
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | glib2.0 | 2.14.3-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | glib2.0 | 2.14.3-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | glib2.0 | 2.14.3-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | pcre3 | 6.7-1 | — |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 5 | pcre +1 | 6.6-2.el5_1.7 | RHSA-2007:1059 |
| RHEL 4 | pcre +1 | 4.5-4.el4_6.6 | RHSA-2007:1068 |
Advisories 2
- RHSA-2007:1059 Red Hat Security Advisory: pcre security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
- RHSA-2007:1068 Red Hat Security Advisory: pcre security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
References
- MDVSA-2008:030 vendor-advisory
- SUSE-SA:2008:004 vendor-advisory
- 28658 third-party-advisory
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:11545 vdb-entry signature
- 26727 vdb-entry
- http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2007-505.htm
- RHSA-2007:1068 vendor-advisory
- RHSA-2007:1059 vendor-advisory
- 28041 third-party-advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=384781
- http://www.pcre.org/changelog.txt
- pcre-library-subpattern-dos(40020) vdb-entry