exim CVE Vulnerabilities & Metrics

Focus on exim vulnerabilities and metrics.

Last updated: 08 Mar 2025, 23:25 UTC

About exim Security Exposure

This page consolidates all known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) associated with exim. We track both calendar-based metrics (using fixed periods) and rolling metrics (using gliding windows) to give you a comprehensive view of security trends and risk evolution. Use these insights to assess risk and plan your patching strategy.

For a broader perspective on cybersecurity threats, explore the comprehensive list of CVEs by vendor and product. Stay updated on critical vulnerabilities affecting major software and hardware providers.

Global CVE Overview

Total exim CVEs: 39
Earliest CVE date: 07 Jun 2010, 17:12 UTC
Latest CVE date: 24 Dec 2023, 06:15 UTC

Latest CVE reference: CVE-2023-51766

Rolling Stats

30-day Count (Rolling): 0
365-day Count (Rolling): 0

Calendar-based Variation

Calendar-based Variation compares a fixed calendar period (e.g., this month versus the same month last year), while Rolling Growth Rate uses a continuous window (e.g., last 30 days versus the previous 30 days) to capture trends independent of calendar boundaries.

Variations & Growth

Month Variation (Calendar): 0%
Year Variation (Calendar): -100.0%

Month Growth Rate (30-day Rolling): 0.0%
Year Growth Rate (365-day Rolling): -100.0%

Monthly CVE Trends (current vs previous Year)

Annual CVE Trends (Last 20 Years)

Critical exim CVEs (CVSS ≥ 9) Over 20 Years

CVSS Stats

Average CVSS: 6.1

Max CVSS: 10.0

Critical CVEs (≥9): 6

CVSS Range vs. Count

Range Count
0.0-3.9 7
4.0-6.9 16
7.0-8.9 20
9.0-10.0 6

CVSS Distribution Chart

Top 5 Highest CVSS exim CVEs

These are the five CVEs with the highest CVSS scores for exim, sorted by severity first and recency.

All CVEs for exim

CVE-2023-51766 exim vulnerability CVSS: 0 24 Dec 2023, 06:15 UTC

Exim before 4.97.1 allows SMTP smuggling in certain PIPELINING/CHUNKING configurations. Remote attackers can use a published exploitation technique to inject e-mail messages with a spoofed MAIL FROM address, allowing bypass of an SPF protection mechanism. This occurs because Exim supports <LF>.<CR><LF> but some other popular e-mail servers do not.

CVE-2022-3620 exim vulnerability CVSS: 0 20 Oct 2022, 20:15 UTC

A vulnerability was found in Exim and classified as problematic. This issue affects the function dmarc_dns_lookup of the file dmarc.c of the component DMARC Handler. The manipulation leads to use after free. The attack may be initiated remotely. The name of the patch is 12fb3842f81bcbd4a4519d5728f2d7e0e3ca1445. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue. The associated identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-211919.

CVE-2022-3559 exim vulnerability CVSS: 0 17 Oct 2022, 18:15 UTC

A vulnerability was found in Exim and classified as problematic. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component Regex Handler. The manipulation leads to use after free. The name of the patch is 4e9ed49f8f12eb331b29bd5b6dc3693c520fddc2. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue. The identifier VDB-211073 was assigned to this vulnerability.

CVE-2022-37452 exim vulnerability CVSS: 0 07 Aug 2022, 18:15 UTC

Exim before 4.95 has a heap-based buffer overflow for the alias list in host_name_lookup in host.c when sender_host_name is set.

CVE-2022-37451 exim vulnerability CVSS: 0 06 Aug 2022, 18:15 UTC

Exim before 4.96 has an invalid free in pam_converse in auths/call_pam.c because store_free is not used after store_malloc.

CVE-2021-38371 exim vulnerability CVSS: 5.0 10 Aug 2021, 15:15 UTC

The STARTTLS feature in Exim through 4.94.2 allows response injection (buffering) during MTA SMTP sending.

CVE-2021-27216 exim vulnerability CVSS: 6.3 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 has Execution with Unnecessary Privileges. By leveraging a delete_pid_file race condition, a local user can delete arbitrary files as root. This involves the -oP and -oPX options.

CVE-2020-28026 exim vulnerability CVSS: 9.3 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 has Improper Neutralization of Line Delimiters, relevant in non-default configurations that enable Delivery Status Notification (DSN). Certain uses of ORCPT= can place a newline into a spool header file, and indirectly allow unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root.

CVE-2020-28025 exim vulnerability CVSS: 5.0 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Out-of-bounds Read because pdkim_finish_bodyhash does not validate the relationship between sig->bodyhash.len and b->bh.len; thus, a crafted DKIM-Signature header might lead to a leak of sensitive information from process memory.

CVE-2020-28024 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Buffer Underwrite that may result in unauthenticated remote attackers executing arbitrary commands, because smtp_ungetc was only intended to push back characters, but can actually push back non-character error codes such as EOF.

CVE-2020-28023 exim vulnerability CVSS: 5.0 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Out-of-bounds Read. smtp_setup_msg may disclose sensitive information from process memory to an unauthenticated SMTP client.

CVE-2020-28022 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 has Improper Restriction of Write Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. This occurs when processing name=value pairs within MAIL FROM and RCPT TO commands.

CVE-2020-28021 exim vulnerability CVSS: 9.0 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 has Improper Neutralization of Line Delimiters. An authenticated remote SMTP client can insert newline characters into a spool file (which indirectly leads to remote code execution as root) via AUTH= in a MAIL FROM command.

CVE-2020-28020 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.92 allows Integer Overflow to Buffer Overflow, in which an unauthenticated remote attacker can execute arbitrary code by leveraging the mishandling of continuation lines during header-length restriction.

CVE-2020-28019 exim vulnerability CVSS: 5.0 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 has Improper Initialization that can lead to recursion-based stack consumption or other consequences. This occurs because use of certain getc functions is mishandled when a client uses BDAT instead of DATA.

CVE-2020-28018 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Use After Free in smtp_reset in certain situations that may be common for builds with OpenSSL.

CVE-2020-28017 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Integer Overflow to Buffer Overflow in receive_add_recipient via an e-mail message with fifty million recipients. NOTE: remote exploitation may be difficult because of resource consumption.

CVE-2020-28016 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows an off-by-two Out-of-bounds Write because "-F ''" is mishandled by parse_fix_phrase.

CVE-2020-28015 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 has Improper Neutralization of Line Delimiters. Local users can alter the behavior of root processes because a recipient address can have a newline character.

CVE-2020-28014 exim vulnerability CVSS: 5.6 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Execution with Unnecessary Privileges. The -oP option is available to the exim user, and allows a denial of service because root-owned files can be overwritten.

CVE-2020-28013 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Heap-based Buffer Overflow because it mishandles "-F '.('" on the command line, and thus may allow privilege escalation from any user to root. This occurs because of the interpretation of negative sizes in strncpy.

CVE-2020-28012 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Exposure of File Descriptor to Unintended Control Sphere because rda_interpret uses a privileged pipe that lacks a close-on-exec flag.

CVE-2020-28011 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Heap-based Buffer Overflow in queue_run via two sender options: -R and -S. This may cause privilege escalation from exim to root.

CVE-2020-28010 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Out-of-bounds Write because the main function, while setuid root, copies the current working directory pathname into a buffer that is too small (on some common platforms).

CVE-2020-28009 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Integer Overflow to Buffer Overflow because get_stdinput allows unbounded reads that are accompanied by unbounded increases in a certain size variable. NOTE: exploitation may be impractical because of the execution time needed to overflow (multiple days).

CVE-2020-28008 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Execution with Unnecessary Privileges. Because Exim operates as root in the spool directory (owned by a non-root user), an attacker can write to a /var/spool/exim4/input spool header file, in which a crafted recipient address can indirectly lead to command execution.

CVE-2020-28007 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 06 May 2021, 13:15 UTC

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Execution with Unnecessary Privileges. Because Exim operates as root in the log directory (owned by a non-root user), a symlink or hard link attack allows overwriting critical root-owned files anywhere on the filesystem.

CVE-2020-12783 exim vulnerability CVSS: 5.0 11 May 2020, 14:15 UTC

Exim through 4.93 has an out-of-bounds read in the SPA authenticator that could result in SPA/NTLM authentication bypass in auths/spa.c and auths/auth-spa.c.

CVE-2020-8015 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.2 02 Apr 2020, 08:15 UTC

A UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following vulnerability in the packaging of exim in openSUSE Factory allows local attackers to escalate from user mail to root. This issue affects: openSUSE Factory exim versions prior to 4.93.0.4-3.1.

CVE-2019-16928 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 27 Sep 2019, 21:15 UTC

Exim 4.92 through 4.92.2 allows remote code execution, a different vulnerability than CVE-2019-15846. There is a heap-based buffer overflow in string_vformat in string.c involving a long EHLO command.

CVE-2019-15846 exim vulnerability CVSS: 10.0 06 Sep 2019, 11:15 UTC

Exim before 4.92.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code as root via a trailing backslash.

CVE-2019-13917 exim vulnerability CVSS: 10.0 25 Jul 2019, 20:15 UTC

Exim 4.85 through 4.92 (fixed in 4.92.1) allows remote code execution as root in some unusual configurations that use the ${sort } expansion for items that can be controlled by an attacker (e.g., $local_part or $domain).

CVE-2019-10149 exim vulnerability CVSS: 10.0 05 Jun 2019, 14:29 UTC

A flaw was found in Exim versions 4.87 to 4.91 (inclusive). Improper validation of recipient address in deliver_message() function in /src/deliver.c may lead to remote command execution.

CVE-2018-6789 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 08 Feb 2018, 23:29 UTC

An issue was discovered in the base64d function in the SMTP listener in Exim before 4.90.1. By sending a handcrafted message, a buffer overflow may happen. This can be used to execute code remotely.

CVE-2017-16944 exim vulnerability CVSS: 5.0 25 Nov 2017, 17:29 UTC

The receive_msg function in receive.c in the SMTP daemon in Exim 4.88 and 4.89 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and stack exhaustion) via vectors involving BDAT commands and an improper check for a '.' character signifying the end of the content, related to the bdat_getc function.

CVE-2017-16943 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 25 Nov 2017, 17:29 UTC

The receive_msg function in receive.c in the SMTP daemon in Exim 4.88 and 4.89 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (use-after-free) via vectors involving BDAT commands.

CVE-2017-1000369 exim vulnerability CVSS: 2.1 19 Jun 2017, 16:29 UTC

Exim supports the use of multiple "-p" command line arguments which are malloc()'ed and never free()'ed, used in conjunction with other issues allows attackers to cause arbitrary code execution. This affects exim version 4.89 and earlier. Please note that at this time upstream has released a patch (commit 65e061b76867a9ea7aeeb535341b790b90ae6c21), but it is not known if a new point release is available that addresses this issue at this time.

CVE-2016-9963 exim vulnerability CVSS: 2.6 01 Feb 2017, 15:59 UTC

Exim before 4.87.1 might allow remote attackers to obtain the private DKIM signing key via vectors related to log files and bounce messages.

CVE-2016-1531 exim vulnerability CVSS: 6.9 07 Apr 2016, 23:59 UTC

Exim before 4.86.2, when installed setuid root, allows local users to gain privileges via the perl_startup argument.

CVE-2014-2972 exim vulnerability CVSS: 4.6 04 Sep 2014, 17:55 UTC

expand.c in Exim before 4.83 expands mathematical comparisons twice, which allows local users to gain privileges and execute arbitrary commands via a crafted lookup value.

CVE-2014-2957 exim vulnerability CVSS: 6.8 04 Sep 2014, 17:55 UTC

The dmarc_process function in dmarc.c in Exim before 4.82.1, when EXPERIMENTAL_DMARC is enabled, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via the From header in an email, which is passed to the expand_string function.

CVE-2012-5671 exim vulnerability CVSS: 6.8 31 Oct 2012, 16:55 UTC

Heap-based buffer overflow in the dkim_exim_query_dns_txt function in dkim.c in Exim 4.70 through 4.80, when DKIM support is enabled and acl_smtp_connect and acl_smtp_rcpt are not set to "warn control = dkim_disable_verify," allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via an email from a malicious DNS server.

CVE-2011-1764 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 05 Oct 2011, 02:56 UTC

Format string vulnerability in the dkim_exim_verify_finish function in src/dkim.c in Exim before 4.76 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via format string specifiers in data used in DKIM logging, as demonstrated by an identity field containing a % (percent) character.

CVE-2011-1407 exim vulnerability CVSS: 7.5 16 May 2011, 18:55 UTC

The DKIM implementation in Exim 4.7x before 4.76 permits matching for DKIM identities to apply to lookup items, instead of only strings, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or access a filesystem via a crafted identity.

CVE-2011-0017 exim vulnerability CVSS: 6.9 02 Feb 2011, 01:00 UTC

The open_log function in log.c in Exim 4.72 and earlier does not check the return value from (1) setuid or (2) setgid system calls, which allows local users to append log data to arbitrary files via a symlink attack.

CVE-2010-4345 exim vulnerability CVSS: 6.9 14 Dec 2010, 16:00 UTC

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.

CVE-2010-4344 exim vulnerability CVSS: 9.3 14 Dec 2010, 16:00 UTC

Heap-based buffer overflow in the string_vformat function in string.c in Exim before 4.70 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via an SMTP session that includes two MAIL commands in conjunction with a large message containing crafted headers, leading to improper rejection logging.

CVE-2010-2024 exim vulnerability CVSS: 4.4 07 Jun 2010, 17:12 UTC

transports/appendfile.c in Exim before 4.72, when MBX locking is enabled, allows local users to change permissions of arbitrary files or create arbitrary files, and cause a denial of service or possibly gain privileges, via a symlink attack on a lockfile in /tmp/.

CVE-2010-2023 exim vulnerability CVSS: 4.4 07 Jun 2010, 17:12 UTC

transports/appendfile.c in Exim before 4.72, when a world-writable sticky-bit mail directory is used, does not verify the st_nlink field of mailbox files, which allows local users to cause a denial of service or possibly gain privileges by creating a hard link to another user's file.