CVE-2017-5223
An issue was discovered in PHPMailer before 5.2.22. PHPMailer's msgHTML method applies transformations to an HTML document to make it…
- 5.5MediumCVSS base score
- 2.1%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 18% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
An issue was discovered in PHPMailer before 5.2.22. PHPMailer's msgHTML method applies transformations to an HTML document to make it usable as an email message body. One of the transformations is to convert relative image URLs into attachments using a script-provided base directory. If no base directory is provided, it resolves to /, meaning that relative image URLs get treated as absolute local file paths and added as attachments. To form a remote vulnerability, the msgHTML method must be called, passed an unfiltered, user-supplied HTML document, and must not set a base directory.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list an Exploit-DB entry for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit.
Show the exploits2
Exploit-DB1 entry
- PHPMailer < 5.2.21 - Local File Disclosure (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 43056webapps, phppublished 25 Oct 2017Not verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 43056 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
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 mitre
- 7 days later
· 7 days later
Published
- 8 years later
· 8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.0 | Medium5.5 | CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 2.1% · top 18% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.5.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Packagistphpmailer/phpmailerGHSA-4x5h-cr29-fhp6 (opens in a new tab)
References
4
- 95328 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- http://kalilinux.co/2017/01/12/phpmailer-cve-2017-5223-local-information-disclosure-vulnerability-analysis/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 43056 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/blob/master/SECURITY.md (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
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)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2020-0329 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-4x5h-cr29-fhp6 (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-2017-5223)Record last updated .