CVE-2008-5619
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 · uneditedhtml2text.php in Chuggnutt HTML to Text Converter, as used in PHPMailer before 5.2.10, RoundCube Webmail (roundcubemail) 0.2-1.alpha and 0.2-3.beta, Mahara, and AtMail Open 1.03, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted input that is processed by the preg_replace function with the eval switch.
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 analysisThe application evaluates attacker-influenced input as code, handing them a way to run logic inside the process. Depending on the runtime this can escalate directly to remote code execution. Remediation means removing dynamic evaluation of untrusted input and replacing it with safe, data-driven alternatives.
General guidance for the code injection class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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= 0.2.1= 0.2.3CVSS 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 · scopedPHPMailer 5.2.10 or later (also update RoundCube Webmail, Mahara, or AtMail Open to patched versions if used)
- 1. Identify all instances of PHPMailer in your codebase or dependencies.
- 2. Check the current PHPMailer version by examining the class.phpmailer.php file header or your dependency manager (e.g., Composer).
- 3. If using Composer, run 'composer require phpmailer/phpmailer:^5.2.10' or 'composer update phpmailer/phpmailer' to update to version 5.2.10 or later.
- 4. If not using Composer, download PHPMailer version 5.2.10 or newer from the official GitHub repository (https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer).
- 5. Replace the old PHPMailer files (class.phpmailer.php, class.smtp.php, class.pop3.php if used) with the new versions.
- 6. Test your email functionality to ensure the upgrade does not break existing features.
- 7. If using RoundCube Webmail, Mahara, or AtMail Open, also update those applications to their patched versions as these include the vulnerable html2text.php from Chuggnutt.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-5619 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-5619 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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