CVE-2019-11043Underflow in PHP-FPM can lead to RCE
- 8.7HighCVSS base score
- 99.8%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 25 Mar 2022
- 4Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
In PHP versions 7.1.x below 7.1.33, 7.2.x below 7.2.24 and 7.3.x below 7.3.11 in certain configurations of FPM setup it is possible to cause FPM module to write past allocated buffers into the space reserved for FCGI protocol data, thus opening the possibility of remote code execution.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as PHP FastCGI Process Manager (FPM) Buffer Overflow Vulnerability.
- Added
- 25 Mar 2022
- Fix due (US federal)
- 15 Apr 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 25 Mar 2022.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module, a Nuclei template and 2 Exploit-DB entries for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits4
Metasploit modules1 module
- PHP-FPM Underflow RCE (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/multi/http/php_fpm_rceRank normaldisclosed 22 Oct 2019
Nuclei templates1 template
- PHP-FPM Path Info Buffer Underflow - Remote Code Execution (Nuclei template) (opens in a new tab)
http/cves/2019/CVE-2019-11043.yamlSeverity critical
Exploit-DB2 entries
- PHP-FPM - Underflow Remote Code Execution (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 48182remote, phppublished 9 Mar 2020Verified
- PHP-FPM + Nginx - Remote Code Execution (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 47553webapps, phppublished 28 Oct 2019Not verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By php
- 7 months later
· 7 months later
Published
- 2 years later
· 2 years later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited, also by ransomware
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| phpCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High8.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 99.8% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (15 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.7.
Affected products
What to do
Workaround: Configuring nginx (or other server that implements the front-end part of the FPM protocol) to check for the existence of the target file before passing it to PHP FPM (e.g. "try_files $uri =404" or "if (-f $uri)" in nginx) for would prevent this vulnerability from happening.
Exploitation: Exploit described at https://github.com/neex/phuip-fpizdam
References
References28
- https://github.com/neex/phuip-fpizdam (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=78599 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- USN-4166-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
- DSA-4552 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- DSA-4553 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- USN-4166-2 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
- https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K75408500?utm_source=f5support&%3Butm_medium=RSS (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- FEDORA-2019-4adc49a476 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191031-0003/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3286 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3287 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3299 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3300 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- FEDORA-2019-187ae3128d (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- FEDORA-2019-7bb07c3b02 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2019:2441 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3724 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3735 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3736 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://www.synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_19_36 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2019:2457 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- https://support.apple.com/kb/HT210919 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 20200129 APPLE-SA-2020-1-28-2 macOS Catalina 10.15.3, Security Update 2020-001 Mojave, Security Update 2020-001 High Sierra (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20200131 APPLE-SA-2020-1-28-2 macOS Catalina 10.15.3, Security Update 2020-001 Mojave, Security Update 2020-001 High Sierra (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2020:0322 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156642/PHP-FPM-7.x-Remote-Code-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2021-14 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-11043 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2019-2751 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2019-11043)Record last updated .