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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 10 Jul 2022.
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2019-10149

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-06-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.91 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit 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
A flaw was found in Exim versions 4.87 to 4.91 (inclusive). Improper validation of recipient address in deliver_message() function in /src/deliver.c may lead to remote command execution.

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

Improper validation of recipient addresses in Exim's deliver_message() function allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary commands via specially crafted email addresses, leading to remote code execution with elevated privileges.

MitigationUpgrade Exim to version 4.92 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict external access to port 25 or implement network-level filtering to reduce exposure to this vulnerability.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 18.04= 18.10
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 9.0
EximApplication
Affected:>= 4.87, <= 4.91

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Exim is installed
    Run 'exim --version' or check package manager (dpkg -l | grep exim, rpm -qa | grep exim)
    Affected if Exim is not installed, then not affected
  2. Determine installed Exim version
    Run 'exim --version' to see the exact version number
    Affected if Version is >= 4.87 and <= 4.91, then vulnerable
  3. Check if Exim SMTP daemon is running
    Run 'systemctl status exim' or 'ps aux | grep exim'
    Affected if Exim is not running, then not currently exploitable
  4. Verify SMTP listener is network-exposed
    Run 'netstat -tlnp | grep :25' or 'ss -tlnp | grep :25' to see if Exim is listening on 0.0.0.0:25 or :::25 rather than only 127.0.0.1:25
    Affected if Listening on all interfaces (0.0.0.0 or :::), then vulnerable to remote attack
  5. Check Exim configuration for external connections
    Review /etc/exim4/exim4.conf or /etc/exim/exim.conf for 'listen' or 'interface' settings, and check for any ACLs that might restrict who can inject messages
    Affected if No network restrictions configured, then likely exposed to remote exploitation

User is affected if Exim version 4.87-4.91 is running and listening on a network interface, allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to send specially crafted recipient addresses.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.91
Vendor patch www.openwall.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Exim to version 4.92 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict external access to port 25 or implement network-level filtering to reduce exposure to this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Exim 4.92 or later

  1. 1. Check current Exim version by running: exim --version or dpkg -l | grep exim
  2. 2. Backup Exim configuration directory: cp -r /etc/exim /etc/exim.backup
  3. 3. Update package repositories: sudo apt-get update
  4. 4. Upgrade Exim to version 4.92 or later: sudo apt-get install exim4 (or exim)
  5. 5. Verify the installed version: exim --version and confirm it is 4.92 or higher
  6. 6. Test mail functionality to ensure Exim is operational after upgrade
  7. 7. Review Exim configuration for any settings that may need adjustment for the new version
Caveat Minor configuration changes may be needed between 4.87-4.91 and 4.92+; review release notes for any default setting changes

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

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2019-10149 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