CVE-2016-5734 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin. 6 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin — see the affected versions and patch details below.
phpMyAdmin Code Injection vulnerability
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2016-5734 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE sits: patch-first territory.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,238 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin🐘phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin🐘phpmyadmin/phpmyadminReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
phpMyAdmin 4.0.x before 4.0.10.16, 4.4.x before 4.4.15.7, and 4.6.x before 4.6.3 does not properly choose delimiters to prevent use of the preg_replace e (aka eval) modifier, which might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary PHP code via a crafted string, as demonstrated by the table search-and-replace implementation.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin | ≥ 4.0.10.0&&< 4.0.10.16 | 4.0.10.16composer require phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:^4.0.10.16 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin | ≥ 4.4.15.0&&< 4.4.15.7 | 4.4.15.7composer require phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:^4.4.15.7 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin | ≥ 4.6.0&&< 4.6.3 | 4.6.3composer require phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:^4.6.3 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
phpMyAdmin 4.6.2 - (Authenticated) Remote Code Execution
by @iamsecurity · Jul 29, 2016
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin to 4.0.10.16 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2016-5734 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2016-5734 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2016-5734. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2016-5734 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2016-5734 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.