CVE-2019-16928

Exim Out-of-bounds Write

9.8 CRITICALActively exploited (CISA KEV)Public exploitEPSS 41.6%

Published27 Sept 2019
Added to CISA KEV3 Mar 2022
Remediation due17 Mar 2022

Description

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.

CVSS 3.1 breakdown

Attack vectorNetwork

Attack complexityLow

Privileges requiredNone

User interactionNone

ScopeUnchanged

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

Exim≥ 4.92 ≤ 4.92.2

Canonical Ubuntu Linux19.04

Debian Linux10.0

Fedoraproject Fedora29 · 30 · 31

Remediation

No fixed version is recorded in the NVD data. Check the vendor advisory for the latest guidance.

Patch & vendor advisories

References

https://bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2449Issue TrackingPatchVendor Advisory
https://git.exim.org/exim.git/commit/478effbfd9c3cc5a627fc671d4bf94d13670d65fPatch
https://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20190927.032457.c1044d4c.en.htmlVendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/EED7HM3MFIBAP5OIMJAFJ35JAJABTVSC/Release Notes
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/T3TJW4HPYH3O5HZCWGD6NSHTEBTTAPDC/Release Notes
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UY6HPRW7MR3KBQ5JFHH6OXM7YCZBJCOB/Release Notes
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Sep/60Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-47Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4141-1/Third Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-16928US Government Resource

and 5 more references

Related CVEs

Recent high-severity vulnerabilities sharing a weakness type.

Frequently asked

Is CVE-2019-16928 being actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2019-16928 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added 3 Mar 2022.

How severe is CVE-2019-16928?

CVE-2019-16928 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, rated critical. EPSS estimates a 41.6% probability of exploitation.

Which products are affected by CVE-2019-16928?

Affected products include Exim, Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora.

How do I fix CVE-2019-16928?

Apply the vendor's patch or advisory guidance, then verify no affected versions remain across your devices.

How Secuno handles this

Secuno correlates vulnerabilities like CVE-2019-16928 against the real software inventory on every managed device, every day. Rather than a static severity, each match is scored in context: exploit availability, EPSS, the asset's exposure, and business criticality decide where it lands in the queue. Because it is on the CISA KEV list, Secuno flags any affected asset as top-priority automatically. If an affected version is present anywhere across your portfolio, it surfaces automatically with a prioritised remediation path.

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Data from the NVD, CISA KEV catalog and FIRST EPSS. CVSS 3.1 base score shown where available.