Sendmail up to 8.12.6 Log Message input validation

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
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CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
6.2$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Sendmail up to 8.12.6 and classified as critical. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component Log Message Handler. This manipulation causes input validation. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2002-2423. No exploit is available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Sendmail up to 8.12.6 (Mail Server Software) and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown part of the component Log Message Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a input validation vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-20. The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, and integrity. The summary by CVE is:

Sendmail 8.12.0 through 8.12.6 truncates log messages longer than 100 characters, which allows remote attackers to prevent the IP address from being logged via a long IDENT response.

The issue has been introduced in 09/08/2001. The weakness was published 09/21/2002 (Website). The advisory is shared at archive.cert.uni-stuttgart.de. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2002-2423 since 11/01/2007. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available.

The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 378 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $5k-$25k. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 74127 (Sendmail Long Ident Logging Circumvention Weakness).

Upgrading to version 8.12.7 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published 4 months after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (10153), SecurityFocus (BID 5770†) and Vulnerability Center (SBV-6126†). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Name

Version

License

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.2

VulDB Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Temp Score: 6.2
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: Input validation
CWE: CWE-20
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Upgrade: Sendmail 8.12.7

Timelineinfo

09/08/2001 🔍
09/21/2002 +378 days 🔍
09/21/2002 +0 days 🔍
09/21/2002 +0 days 🔍
12/29/2002 +99 days 🔍
12/31/2002 +2 days 🔍
11/25/2004 +695 days 🔍
11/01/2007 +1071 days 🔍
08/07/2014 +2471 days 🔍
08/26/2025 +4037 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: archive.cert.uni-stuttgart.de
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2002-2423 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2002-2423
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-20065
X-Force: 10153
SecurityFocus: 5770 - Sendmail Long Ident Logging Circumvention Weakness
Vulnerability Center: 6126 - Sendmail 8.12.0 - 8.12.6 Allows Attacker\x27s IP Not to be Logged via IDENT, High

Entryinfo

Created: 08/07/2014 14:50
Updated: 08/26/2025 16:48
Changes: 08/07/2014 14:50 (54), 07/03/2017 18:21 (10), 08/26/2025 16:48 (20)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Discussion

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