CVE-2017-16944
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…
Does this matter?
EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 63.4%, higher than 99% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window.
Description
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.
- CVSS 3.0
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 63.36% probability · 99th percentile
- Public exploits
- 1 in Exploit-DB · verified · first 27 November 2017
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-835
- Affected
- exim/exim · debian/debian linux
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS moved from 42.0% on 21 September 2026 to 63.4% on 27 October 2026. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”.
Public exploits (1)
Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.
References
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/25/1Mailing List
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/25/2Mailing List
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/25/3Mailing List
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/04/7
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039873Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2201Exploit, Issue Tracking
- https://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20171125.034842.d1d75cac.en.htmlMailing List
- https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-4053Third Party Advisory
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43184/Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/25/1Mailing List
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/25/2Mailing List
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/25/3Mailing List
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/04/7
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039873Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2201Exploit, Issue Tracking
- https://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20171125.034842.d1d75cac.en.htmlMailing List
- https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-4053Third Party Advisory
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43184/Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.