CVE-2010-4345
Exim 4.72 and earlier allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging the ability of the exim user account to specify an alternate…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 18.0%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 2.8% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 25 Mar 2022
- 2Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Exim 4.72 and earlier allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging the ability of the exim user account to specify an alternate configuration file with a directive that contains arbitrary commands, as demonstrated by the spool_directory directive.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Exim Privilege Escalation Vulnerability.
- Added
- 25 Mar 2022
- Fix due (US federal)
- 15 Apr 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 25 Mar 2022.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module and an Exploit-DB entry for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits2
Metasploit modules1 module
- Exim4 string_format Function Heap Buffer Overflow (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/unix/smtp/exim4_string_formatRank excellentdisclosed 7 Dec 2010
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Exim4 < 4.69 - string_format Function Heap Buffer Overflow (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 16925remote, linuxpublished 16 Dec 2010Verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
- 14 days later
· 14 days later
Published
- 11 years later
· 11 years later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 18.0% · top 2.8% of all CVEs (10 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
29
- 43128 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- SUSE-SA:2010:059 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- [exim-dev] 20101209 Re: [Exim-maintainers] Remote root vulnerability in Exim (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- VU#758489 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_CERT-VNx_transferred
- [exim-dev] 20101207 Remote root vulnerability in Exim (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=662012 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- ADV-2011-0364 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- http://www.metasploit.com/modules/exploit/unix/smtp/exim4_string_format (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2011:0153 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- 45341 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 42930 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- 42576 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- 43243 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- 1024859 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- [exim-dev] 20101210 Re: Remote root vulnerability in Exim (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- DSA-2154 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- 20101213 Exim security issue in historical release (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/11/exim_code_execution_peril/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- ADV-2011-0245 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- ADV-2011-0135 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- USN-1060-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
- ADV-2010-3204 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- http://bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1044 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- DSA-2131 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- ADV-2010-3171 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- http://www.cpanel.net/2010/12/critical-exim-security-update.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- [oss-security] 20101210 Exim remote root (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- [oss-security] 20210504 21Nails: Multiple vulnerabilities in Exim (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2010-4345 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2010-4314 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2010-4345)Record last updated .