THREATPORT/VULNERABILITY/CVE-2017-16943
CRITICAL SEVERITY

CVE-2017-16943

Exim vulnerability

CVSS
9.8
EPSS
46.7%
EPSS pct
99th
Exploited
No known
The receive_msg function in receive.c in the SMTP daemon in Exim 4.88 and 4.89 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (use-after-free) via vectors involving BDAT commands.
Affected vendor
Exim
Affected product
Exim
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness type (CWE)
Published
2017-11-25

Risk analysis

Based on its CVSS vector, this vulnerability is exploitable over the network, low attack complexity, requiring no privileges, no user interaction. Successful exploitation leads to high impact to confidentiality, high impact to integrity, high impact to availability.

Its EPSS score of 46.7% reflects a moderate probability of exploitation activity in the wild over the next 30 days, placing it among the most exploited CVEs currently tracked.

Check your external exposure to CVE-2017-16943

  • Confirm whether Exim Exim is running on any internet-facing host or subdomain.
  • Match discovered service fingerprints against the version affected by CVE-2017-16943.
  • Prioritise remediation if the asset is public, business-critical, or near authentication/payment flows.

How ThreatPort helps with CVE-2017-16943

ThreatPort's external attack surface scanner checks your internet-facing assets — agentlessly, from the outside in — for the exposed services and versions that CVE-2017-16943 affects, then prioritises the finding by real risk using CISA KEV and FIRST.org EPSS.

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