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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2019-15846

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-09-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.92.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Exim before 4.92.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code as root via a trailing backslash.

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

Exim before 4.92.2 contains a critical remote code execution vulnerability where a trailing backslash in certain SMTP commands allows attackers to execute arbitrary code with root privileges. The vulnerability stems from improper input validation in the mail server's parsing logic.

MitigationUpgrade Exim to version 4.92.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Given the critical severity (CVSS 9.8) and root-level code execution capability, immediate patching is strongly recommended.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0
EximApplication
Affected:< 4.92.2

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:3.0/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 'dpkg -l | grep exim' on Debian-based systems to see if the Exim mail server is present
    Affected if Exim is installed and the version is below 4.92.2
  2. Get the exact Exim version number
    Execute 'exim -bV' or check '/usr/sbin/exim -bV' to retrieve the precise version string
    Affected if The version displayed is less than 4.92.2 (for example, 4.92, 4.91.x, 4.90.x, etc.)
  3. Determine if Exim SMTP daemon is active
    Run 'systemctl status exim4' or check 'ps aux | grep exim' to see if the Exim daemon process is running and listening on SMTP ports (25, 465, 587)
    Affected if Exim is running as an SMTP listener and its version is below 4.92.2
  4. Verify Exim package version on Debian systems
    Run 'apt-cache policy exim4' or 'dpkg -s exim4' to check the installed Debian package version
    Affected if The installed package version corresponds to an Exim build earlier than 4.92.2

You are affected if Exim is installed with a version lower than 4.92.2 and the SMTP daemon is active and reachable on the network.

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 4.92.2 or later
Fixed in 4.92.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Exim to version 4.92.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Given the critical severity (CVSS 9.8) and root-level code execution capability, immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Recommended fix High confidence

Exim 4.92.2 or later

  1. 1. Check the current Exim version installed: `exim --version`
  2. 2. Update the package repository index: `apt-get update` (Debian/Ubuntu) or `yum check-update` (RHEL/CentOS)
  3. 3. Upgrade the Exim package: `apt-get install exim4` (Debian/Ubuntu) or `yum update exim` (RHEL/CentOS)
  4. 4. Verify the installed version is 4.92.2 or later: `exim --version`
  5. 5. Restart the Exim service to apply the update: `systemctl restart exim` or `systemctl restart exim4`
  6. 6. Confirm Exim is running and listening on expected ports: `systemctl status exim`
Caveat Standard minor-version upgrade; review /etc/exim/exim.conf if custom configurations exist after upgrade

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

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,900
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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-2019-15846 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