9.8

CVE-2023-42117: exim

CVSS: 9.8v3.1CriticalModified
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2023-42117DEBIAN-CVE-2023-42117CGA-7r29-5crr-5q79
Published 03-05-2024Last modified 03-11-2025
Open JSON

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-42117 is a critical (CVSS 9.8) vulnerability in exim. EPSS estimates a 6.79% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 93.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Overall risk
70/100
0100
High · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
9.8/10
010
Critical · v3.1 (NVD)
EPSS score
6.79%
0%100%
Low · +1.07 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedIn no KEV catalog
RansomwareNone recordedNo known use recorded
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 6 · Related 8
DLA-3938-1OPENSUSE-SU-2023:0303-1OPENSUSE-SU-2023:0304-1OPENSUSE-SU-2024:0007-1OPENSUSE-SU-2024:13333-1USN-6455-1

Timeline

  1. 03-05-2024
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 03-11-2025
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Exim Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Exim. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the smtp service, which listens on TCP port 25 by default. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of user-supplied data, which can result in a memory corruption condition. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-17554.

CVSS metrics

8 scores · 6 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

6.79%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

94%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

+1.07 pp

From 5.72% on 19-09-2026

19-09-202619-10-2026
EPSS score
6.79%

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs

Not in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Chainguard2 products
  • exim< 4.96.1-r0
  • libspf2< 1.2.11-r1
Wolfi2 products
  • exim< 4.96.1-r0
  • libspf2< 1.2.11-r1
Debian1 product
  • exim4< 4.96-15+deb12u3 | < 4.97~RC2-2
Exim1 product
  • exim4.96-RC1-11-315206fbf | < 4.96.2
Ubuntu1 product
  • exim4< 4.82-3ubuntu2.4+esm7 | < 4.86.2-2ubuntu2.6+esm5 | < 4.90.1-1ubuntu1.10+esm2 | < 4.93-13ubuntu1.9 | < 4.95-4ubuntu2.4

5 vendors · 7 products

References

10 links