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SendmailApplication

CVE-2003-0161

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2003-04-02
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The prescan() function in the address parser (parseaddr.c) in Sendmail before 8.12.9 does not properly handle certain conversions from char and int types, which can cause a length check to be disabled when Sendmail misinterprets an input value as a special "NOCHAR" control value, allowing attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via a buffer overflow attack using messages, a different vulnerability than CVE-2002-1337.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
SendmailApplication
Affected:= 2.6= 2.6.1= 2.6.2= 3.0= 3.0.1= 3.0.2= 3.0.3= 8.9.0= 8.9.1= 8.9.2= 8.9.3= 8.10
Sendmail SwitchApplication
Affected:= 2.1= 2.1.1= 2.1.2= 2.1.3= 2.1.4= 2.1.5= 2.2= 2.2.1= 2.2.2= 2.2.3= 2.2.4= 2.2.5
Tru64Operating system
Affected:= 4.0b= 4.0d= 4.0d_pk9_bl17= 4.0f= 4.0f_pk6_bl17= 4.0f_pk7_bl18= 4.0g= 4.0g_pk3_bl17= 5.0= 5.0_pk4_bl17= 5.0_pk4_bl18= 5.0a
Hp UxOperating system
Affected:= 10.00= 10.01= 10.08= 10.09= 10.10= 10.16= 10.20= 10.24= 10.26= 10.30= 10.34= 11.00
Hp Ux Series 700Operating system
Affected:= 10.20
Hp Ux Series 800Operating system
Affected:= 10.20
SisOperating system
Affected:all versions
SolarisOperating system
Affected:= 2.4= 2.5= 2.5.1= 2.6= 7.0= 8.0= 9.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch www.cert.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Sendmail 8.12.9 or later (current stable 8.17.x recommended)

  1. 1. Identify the specific Sendmail version currently installed using 'sendmail -V' or checking the package manager
  2. 2. Download Sendmail 8.12.9 or later from the official Sendmail distribution site (sendmail.org)
  3. 3. Back up the current Sendmail configuration files (/etc/mail/ directory and sendmail.cf)
  4. 4. Stop the Sendmail service using 'service sendmail stop' or '/etc/init.d/sendmail stop'
  5. 5. Compile and install the new Sendmail version following the included INSTALL documentation
  6. 6. Verify the new version is running using 'sendmail -V'
  7. 7. Test mail functionality to ensure the upgrade did not break existing configurations
  8. 8. Monitor logs for any unusual activity following the upgrade
Caveat Major version jumps may require configuration file updates; review release notes for breaking changes between 8.12.x and current stable versions

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2003-0161 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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