Insufficient Entropy in PHP - CVE-2008-2108
Published: February 15, 2024 / Updated: June 8, 2025
Vulnerability identifier: #VU110345
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4: 9.3 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2008-2108
CWE-ID: CWE-331
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.
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.
Affected software
PHP
How to mitigate CVE-2008-2108
Install update from vendor's website.
PHP - update to 5.2.5
External References
- http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2008-05/0103.html
- http://www.sektioneins.de/advisories/SE-2008-02.txt
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:130
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0582.html
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:128
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:125
- http://secunia.com/advisories/31119
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0505.html
- http://secunia.com/advisories/31200
- https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-June/msg00773.html
- http://secunia.com/advisories/30757
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:126
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0546.html
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0545.html
- http://secunia.com/advisories/31124
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:127
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0544.html
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:129
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-628-1
- http://secunia.com/advisories/30828
- https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-June/msg00779.html
- http://securityreason.com/securityalert/3859
- http://secunia.com/advisories/35003
- http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1789
- http://secunia.com/advisories/32746
- http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200811-05.xml
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/42226
- https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10844
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/491683/100/0/threaded