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PhpmailerApplication

CVE-2007-3215

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-06-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
PHPMailer 1.7, when configured to use sendmail, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary shell commands via shell metacharacters in the SendmailSend function in class.phpmailer.php.

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 · high confidence

PHPMailer 1.7 contains a command injection vulnerability in the SendmailSend function (class.phpmailer.php) when configured to use sendmail. Remote attackers can inject arbitrary shell commands via shell metacharacters in email parameters that get passed to the sendmail binary without proper sanitization.

MitigationUpgrade to a current version of PHPMailer (2.x or later) which properly escapes shell metacharacters, or implement strict input validation/escaping on all user-supplied email parameters before passing them to the SendmailSend function.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
PhpmailerApplication
Affected:= 1.7= 1.7.1= 1.7.2= 1.7.3= 1.73

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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify PHPMailer version
    Locate class.phpmailer.php and search for a version string such as '$Version', 'PHPMailer', or a version number in the file header or variable declarations
    Affected if The version is 1.7, 1.7.1, 1.7.2, 1.7.3, or 1.73
  2. Determine mailer configuration
    Search the PHPMailer configuration or the code that instantiates the PHPMailer class for the $Mailer property or similar setting
    Affected if The mailer is set to 'sendmail' or 'mail' (which may invoke sendmail) rather than 'smtp'
  3. Inspect SendmailSend function
    Open class.phpmailer.php and locate the function named SendmailSend or similar (such as Sendmail)
    Affected if The function exists and directly passes email parameters to the sendmail binary without escaping shell metacharacters

You are affected if your installed PHPMailer version is 1.7, 1.7.1, 1.7.2, 1.7.3, or 1.73 AND sendmail is configured as the mail delivery method.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to a current version of PHPMailer (2.x or later) which properly escapes shell metacharacters, or implement strict input validation/escaping on all user-supplied email parameters before passing them to the SendmailSend function.

Fix this in Phpmailer Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2007-3215 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data