Input validation error in PHP - CVE-2004-0542
Published: July 1, 2022 / Updated: June 8, 2025
Vulnerability identifier: #VU110521
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-2004-0542
CWE-ID: CWE-20
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.
PHP before 4.3.7 on Win32 platforms does not properly filter all shell metacharacters, which allows local or remote attackers to execute arbitrary code, overwrite files, and access internal environment variables via (1) the "%", "|", or ">" characters to the escapeshellcmd function, or (2) the "%" character to the escapeshellarg function.
Affected software
PHP
How to mitigate CVE-2004-0542
Install update from vendor's website.
PHP - update to 4.3.7