CVE-2017-18475
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 · uneditedIn cPanel before 62.0.4, Exim piped filters ran in the context of an incorrect user account when delivering to a system user (SEC-204).
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 confidenceIn cPanel before version 62.0.4, Exim's piped filters (used for custom email processing) were executing in the context of an incorrect user account when delivering email to system users. This privilege context mismatch could allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to files or execute code with elevated privileges intended for a different user.
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>= 11.54.0.0, < 11.54.0.36>= 55.9999.61, < 56.0.43>= 57.9999.48, < 58.0.43>= 59.9999.58, < 60.0.35>= 61.9999.55, < 62.0.4CVSS 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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm cPanel is installedRun: grep -i cpanel /etc/cpanel.config or check for /usr/local/cpanel directoryAffected if cPanel is not present on the system, this CVE does not apply
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Identify cPanel versionRun: /usr/local/cpanel/cpanel -V or cat /var/cpanel/cpanel.configAffected if Cannot determine version - manual investigation required
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Compare version against affected rangesThe affected versions are: 11.54.0.0-11.54.0.35, 55.9999.61-56.0.42, 57.9999.48-58.0.42, 59.9999.58-60.0.34, 61.9999.55-62.0.3. Compare your version from step 2 against these ranges.Affected if Installed version falls within any of the listed version ranges, the system is potentially affected
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Verify Exim mail service is activeRun: /scripts/eximstat or check /etc/exim.conf exists and exim service is runningAffected if Exim is not installed or not in use, the vulnerability is not exploitable in this context
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Check for piped filter configurationLook for .forward files with pipe to custom scripts in user home directories, or check /etc/valiases for piped aliases. Search: grep -r '|' /etc/valiases/ and find /home/*/.forwardAffected if No piped filters or custom email processing scripts are configured, exploitation is not possible
If cPanel is installed and the version falls within the affected ranges AND Exim with piped filters is in use, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2017-18475.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data11.54.0.3656.0.4358.0.43
Upgrade cPanel to version 62.0.4 or later to patch the Exim piped filter user context vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-18475 — 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-2017-18475 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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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.
- 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