Unauthenticated code execution via recipient-count overflow
Published May 6, 2021 · Updated Aug 4, 2024
Integer overflow in Exim before 4.94.2 allows remote attackers to execute code as the Exim user through excessive SMTP recipients. In receive_add_recipient(), doubling recipients_list_max and multiplying it by recipient_item size wraps the allocation size negative after 52,428,800 recipients, then memcpy writes nearly 2 GB beyond the block. Remote exploitation requires over 25 GB of memory in the default configuration, while Exim 4.94 adds quadratic taint-checking work that can take months.
Summary
What happened
Integer overflow in Exim before 4.94.2 allows remote attackers to execute code as the Exim user through excessive SMTP recipients. In receive_add_recipient(), doubling recipients_list_max and multiplying it by recipient_item size wraps the allocation size negative after 52,428,800 recipients, then memcpy writes nearly 2 GB beyond the block. Remote exploitation requires over 25 GB of memory in the default configuration, while Exim 4.94 adds quadratic taint-checking work that can take months.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-28017
- Published
- May 6, 2021
- Updated
- Aug 4, 2024
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-190, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 6, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Qualys local batch-SMTP proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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