Email spoofing via unvalidated Host header
Published Apr 14, 2026 · Updated Apr 14, 2026
SMTP header injection in Serendipity before 2.6.0 allows remote attackers to spoof outgoing email identities through a crafted Host header. The mail builder in include/functions.inc.php appends HTTP_HOST to Message-ID without calling serendipity_isResponseClean(), so SMTP delimiters become new headers. Exploitation requires an installation that accepts arbitrary Host values and an email-triggering request; injected headers enable BCC insertion, spoofing, and thread hijacking.
Summary
What happened
SMTP header injection in Serendipity before 2.6.0 allows remote attackers to spoof outgoing email identities through a crafted Host header. The mail builder in include/functions.inc.php appends HTTP_HOST to Message-ID without calling serendipity_isResponseClean(), so SMTP delimiters become new headers. Exploitation requires an installation that accepts arbitrary Host values and an email-triggering request; injected headers enable BCC insertion, spoofing, and thread hijacking.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-39971
- Published
- Apr 14, 2026
- Updated
- Apr 14, 2026
- Vendor
- Serendipity Team
- Product
- Serendipity
- Classifications
- CWE-113, T1684.002
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 14, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 2.6.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
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
- GHSA-458g-q4fh-mj6r curl proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo