Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2026-7262: PHP SOAP extension NULL pointer dereference in apache:Map decoder

CVE-2026-7262 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.5 · Published 2026-05-10

Technologies: Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream, PHP Group PHP. Vendors: Red Hat, PHP Group.

Executive brief

PHP is a widely used programming language for web development. A flaw in its SOAP extension, which handles web service communications, allows a remote attacker to crash the server by sending a specially crafted request. This results in a denial of service, potentially taking websites or applications offline.

Technical details

A vulnerability exists in the `to_zval_map()` function within `ext/soap/php_encoding.c` of the PHP SOAP extension. When a SOAP server is configured with a typemap, the decoder incorrectly validates the `xmlKey` variable instead of `xmlValue` when processing the `<value>` branch of an `apache:Map` node. If a request contains an `apache:Map` node with a missing `<value>` element, the subsequent call to `master_to_zval_int()` attempts to access properties on a NULL pointer. This results in a segmentation fault and process crash. The issue is exploitable by a remote, unauthenticated attacker and has been patched in PHP versions 8.2.31, 8.3.31, 8.4.21, and 8.5.6.

Affected products

  • PHP Group PHP 8.2.* before 8.2.31, 8.3.* before 8.3.31, 8.4.* before 8.4.21, 8.5.* before 8.5.6
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream 8, 9, 10

Timeline

  • 2026-05-07: advisory: PHP Group published security advisory GHSA-hmxp-6pc4-f3vv
  • 2026-05-10: disclosed: CVE-2026-7262 published to NVD
  • 2026-06-01: patched: Red Hat released security updates for RHEL 9 (RHSA-2026:22142)

References

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