Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-7259

Memory Safety in Php 8.2.0 – 8.2.31

Memory Safety
Published
10 May 2026
Modified
24 July 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 2.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:Y/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 15 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-7259 is a low-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Php Php. Its CVSS base score is 2.1 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 10th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and CM-7 (Least Functionality) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A10:2025 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In PHP versions 8.2.* before 8.2.31, 8.3.* before 8.3.31, 8.4.* before 8.4.21, and 8.5.* before 8.5.6, a mismatch between encoding lists in Oniguruma and mbfl leads to a NULL pointer dereference, resulting in a segmentation fault and denial of service.…

more

The vulnerability is exploitable when user-controlled input can influence the encoding passed to mb_regex_encoding().

CWE(s)
CWE-476

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

NULL dereference in PHP mb_regex_encoding() with attacker-controlled encoding input directly enables remote exploitation of a public-facing PHP application (T1190) to trigger application crash and endpoint DoS (T1499.004).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impactconfidence: HIGH
NULL pointer dereference in mb_regex_encoding() directly enables application exploitation for DoS via crafted encoding input.
attack.mitre.org →
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-7262Same product: Php Php
CVE-2025-6491Same product: Php Php
CVE-2025-14180Same product: Php Php
CVE-2026-7258Same product: Php Php
CVE-2026-6722Same product: Php Php
CVE-2026-7261Same product: Php Php
CVE-2026-6104Same product: Php Php
CVE-2026-7568Same product: Php Php
CVE-2025-1735Same product: Php Php
CVE-2026-7263Same product: Php Php

Affected Assets

php
php
8.2.0 — 8.2.31 · 8.3.0 — 8.3.31 · 8.4.0 — 8.4.21

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • CM-7 Least Functionality
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Directly requires timely application of vendor patches that eliminate the Oniguruma/mbfl encoding-list mismatch and NULL dereference in mb_regex_encoding().

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match
prevent

Enforces validation of user-supplied encoding names before they reach mb_regex_encoding(), blocking the malformed values that trigger the dereference.

CM-7 Least Functionality partial match
prevent

Disables or restricts the mbstring regex extension when not required, eliminating the code path that accepts attacker-controlled encodings.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
detects

Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References