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Bug #7621 NULL-bytes cause fundamental problems in string processing
Submitted: 2000-11-03 09:28 UTC Modified: 2000-11-27 14:05 UTC
From: vburwitz at mails-media dot de Assigned:
Status: Closed Package: Scripting Engine problem
PHP Version: 4.0.3pl1 OS: GNU/Linux 2.2.13 (SuSE 6.3)
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
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From: vburwitz at mails-media dot de
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 [2000-11-03 09:28 UTC] vburwitz at mails-media dot de 
Fundamental String Append Problem!!!

If NULL-bytes are in a string then appending the string won't work.

e.g. (NULL-byte written as "0" here)

$a ="abc0def";
$b ="1230456";

$a .=$b;

echo $a;
=> "abc"

echo strlen($a);
=> "3"

Well I don't have to mention that the problem is most probably
related to NULL-termination of strings in C/C++.

The above creates a lot of HUGE PROBLEMS and was working
with PHP3, since I am depending on NULL-safe string processing.

Could someone give me a fast reply if something more is known?

Thanks

V. Burwitz

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 [2000-11-03 13:31 UTC] waldschrott@php.net 
hm, works for me (4.0.4dev win32)... strlen() is ok. output
is ok.
 [2000-11-03 19:19 UTC] waldschrott@php.net 
your example (duped out) with chr(0) again works for me, I
tested now on win32 (4.0.4dev) AND linux(4.0.3dev), both are ok.
perhaps anyone else can try to verify
 [2000-11-05 06:28 UTC] stas@php.net 
PHP 3 problem?
 [2000-11-15 17:28 UTC] waldschrott@php.net 
user replied that problem is partly solved, anyway there's one NS4.x issue remaining

try this...
<?php
echo "abc\0XXX";
echo 'XXY'.str_repeat('as',60);
?>
NS4.x (mozilla,IE etc. won't) simply does not recognize a bunch of characters, it's apparently a Netscape bug and I'm sure we can't do anything here to improve the situation

any ideas anyone?
 [2000-11-27 06:36 UTC] waldschrott@php.net 
Thought about it again, if NS4 cannot come along with \0 why
not strip them out then if the browser appears to be a NS4?
 [2000-11-27 14:05 UTC] waldschrott@php.net 
thought about it twice, the above is no good idea, to many
checks needed, is output of type text/html and further, it
should be left to the user to cure browser lacks
 
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