Skip to content
Fencer Intel
critical 9.8

CVE-2010-4344 kev in the critical feed json

Heap-based buffer overflow in the string_vformat function in string.c in Exim before 4.70 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code…

published 15y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2010-4313

cvss
9.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Exploited
added 2022-03-25
epss
71.7%
EPSS 71.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 99.4%
public exploits
3
Metasploit and Exploit-DB

Summary

Heap-based buffer overflow in the string_vformat function in string.c in Exim before 4.70 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via an SMTP session that includes two MAIL commands in conjunction with a large message containing crafted headers, leading to improper rejection logging.

Patch / fix

cisa required action Apply updates per vendor instructions.

  • exim exim 4.70
  • exim4 Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.70-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2010-4344

  • exim RHEL 4 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1
  • exim RHEL 5 4.63-5.el5_5.2
  • exim-sa RHEL 4 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1
  • exim-sa RHEL 5 4.63-5.el5_5.2
  • exim-mon RHEL 4 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1
  • exim RHEL 4.7 EUS 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_7.1
  • exim RHEL 5.3 EUS 4.63-3.el5_3.1
  • exim RHEL 5.4 EUS 4.63-3.el5_4.1

red hat advisories RHSA-2010:0970

  • exim openSUSE Tumbleweed 4.86.2-2.2

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10017-1

Is CVE-2010-4344 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2010-4344 updated cvss 7.5

exim: remote code execution flaw

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) exim 4.63-5.el5_5.2, exim-sa 4.63-5.el5_5.2, exim-mon 4.63-5.el5_5.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS EUS (v. 4.7) exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_7.1, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_7.1, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_7.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) exim 4.63-5.el5_5.2, exim-sa 4.63-5.el5_5.2, exim-mon 4.63-5.el5_5.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES EUS (v. 4.7) exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_7.1, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_7.1, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_7.1
    +4 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS (v. 5.3 server) exim 4.63-3.el5_3.1, exim-sa 4.63-3.el5_3.1, exim-mon 4.63-3.el5_3.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS (v. 5.4 server) exim 4.63-3.el5_4.1, exim-sa 4.63-3.el5_4.1, exim-mon 4.63-3.el5_4.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 exim 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1, exim-sa 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1, exim-mon 4.43-1.RHEL4.5.el4_8.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2010:0970

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (Metasploit exploit/unix/smtp/exim4_string_format)
  2. Published
  3. Added to CISA KEV
  4. CISA patch deadline
  5. CISA SSVC: exploitation active

Known exploited

Added
4y ago
Patch by
2022-04-15 (4y ago)
Ransomware
Not known
Required action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Vendor, product
Exim, Exim
CISA name
Exim Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Active, exploited in the wild
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
last yr.

Exploit prediction

71.71% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • Metasploit exploit/unix/smtp/exim4_string_format Exim4 string_format Function Heap Buffer Overflow metasploit exploit, excellent rank, 2010-12-07
  • EDB-16925 Exim4 < 4.69 - string_format Function Heap Buffer Overflow (Metasploit) remote, 2010-12-16
  • EDB-15725 Exim 4.63 - Remote Command Execution remote, 2010-12-11
  • osvdb.org http://www.osvdb.org/69685 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • exim.org http://www.exim.org/lurker/message/20101207.215955.bb32d4f2.en.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • bugzilla.redhat.com https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=661756 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/04/7 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 9.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.