CVE-2016-9847
MEDIUMCVE-2016-9847 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-310 vulnerability in phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2016-9847 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
phpMyAdmin Cryptographic Vulnerability
Blast Radius
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
An issue was discovered in phpMyAdmin. When the user does not specify a blowfish_secret key for encrypting cookies, phpMyAdmin generates one at runtime. A vulnerability was reported where the way this value is created uses a weak algorithm. This could allow an attacker to determine the user's blowfish_secret and potentially decrypt their cookies. All 4.6.x versions (prior to 4.6.5), 4.4.x versions (prior to 4.4.15.9), and 4.0.x versions (prior to 4.0.10.18) are affected.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin | ≥ 4.6&&< 4.6.5 | 4.6.5 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin | ≥ 4.4&&< 4.4.15.9 | 4.4.15.9 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin | ≥ 4.0&&< 4.0.10.18 | 4.0.10.18 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin to 4.6.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2016-9847 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2016-9847 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2016-9847. 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-2016-9847 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2016-9847 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.