Eric Allman Sendmail Pipe Character privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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8.0$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Eric Allman Sendmail. It has been declared as problematic. This affects an unknown part of the component Pipe Character Handler. Such manipulation leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-1999-0163. There is not any exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Eric Allman Sendmail (Mail Server Software) (version now known). It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is some unknown processing of the component Pipe Character Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In older versions of Sendmail, an attacker could use a pipe character to execute root commands.

The weakness was released 01/01/1997. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-1999-0163. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1068.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 10261 (Sendmail mail from/rcpt to Pipe Arbitrary Command Execution), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family SMTP problems and running in the context r. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 74133 (Sendmail Command Execution Vulnerability).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (10261) and Vulnerability Center (SBV-387†). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

License

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 8.4
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 8.0

VulDB Base Score: 8.4
VulDB Temp Score: 8.0
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 10261
Nessus Name: Sendmail mail from/rcpt to Pipe Arbitrary Command Execution
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍
McAfee IPS: 🔍
McAfee IPS Version: 🔍

ISS Proventia IPS: 🔍

Timelineinfo

01/01/1997 🔍
01/01/1997 +0 days 🔍
01/01/1997 +0 days 🔍
08/22/1999 +963 days 🔍
12/17/2002 +1213 days 🔍
06/17/2014 +4200 days 🔍
04/16/2026 +4321 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-1999-0163 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-1999-0163
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-13796
Vulnerability Center: 387 - Sendmail pipe cmd exec, High

Entryinfo

Created: 06/17/2014 22:51
Updated: 04/16/2026 11:43
Changes: 06/17/2014 22:51 (59), 05/06/2019 16:20 (2), 10/26/2025 21:07 (20), 04/16/2026 11:43 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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