Exim up to 4.70 Configuration File access control

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 (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	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.
7.9	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Exim up to 4.70. It has been classified as problematic. Affected is an unknown function of the component Configuration File. Performing a manipulation results in access control. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2010-4345. Attacking locally is a requirement. Furthermore, an exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Exim up to 4.70 (Mail Server Software). It has been classified as critical. This affects an unknown code block of the component Configuration File. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a access control vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-264. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Exim 4.72 and earlier allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging the ability of the exim user account to specify an alternate configuration file with a directive that contains arbitrary commands, as demonstrated by the spool_directory directive.

The bug was discovered 12/11/2010. The weakness was published 12/14/2010 as confirmed advisory (CERT.org). The advisory is shared at kb.cert.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2010-4345 since 11/30/2010. An attack has to be approached locally. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1068 for this issue.

A public exploit has been developed in Ruby. The exploit is shared for download at securityfocus.com. It is declared as attacked. The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 3 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $0-$5k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 68180 (Oracle Linux 4 / 5 : exim (ELSA-2011-0153)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Oracle Linux Local Security Checks and running in the context l. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 53012 (Exim Mail Server Multiple Vulnerabilities). The CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog lists this issue since 03/25/2022 with a due date of 04/15/2022:

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published 2 months after the disclosure of the vulnerability. Furthermore it is possible to detect and prevent this kind of attack with TippingPoint and the filter 10831.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Exploit-DB (16925), Tenable (68180), SecurityFocus (BID 45341†), OSVDB (69860†) and Secunia (SA42576†). Similar entry is available at VDB-55724. If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Mail Server Software

Name

• Exim

Version

• 4.0
• 4.1
• 4.2
• 4.3
• 4.4
• 4.5
• 4.6
• 4.7
• 4.8
• 4.9
• 4.10
• 4.11
• 4.12
• 4.13
• 4.14
• 4.15
• 4.16
• 4.17
• 4.18
• 4.19
• 4.20
• 4.21
• 4.22
• 4.23
• 4.24
• 4.25
• 4.26
• 4.27
• 4.28
• 4.29
• 4.30
• 4.31
• 4.32
• 4.33
• 4.34
• 4.35
• 4.36
• 4.37
• 4.38
• 4.39
• 4.40
• 4.41
• 4.42
• 4.43
• 4.44
• 4.45
• 4.46
• 4.47
• 4.48
• 4.49
• 4.50
• 4.51
• 4.52
• 4.53
• 4.54
• 4.55
• 4.56
• 4.57
• 4.58
• 4.59
• 4.60
• 4.61
• 4.62
• 4.63
• 4.64
• 4.65
• 4.66
• 4.67
• 4.68
• 4.69
• 4.70

License

• open-source

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

Video

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 8.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.9

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

NVD Base Score: 7.8
NVD Vector: 🔍

ADP CISA Base Score: 7.8
ADP CISA Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Access control
CWE: CWE-264
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Attacked
Programming Language: 🔍
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

KEV Added: 🔍
KEV Due: 🔍
KEV Remediation: 🔍
KEV Ransomware: 🔍
KEV Notice: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Nessus ID: 68180
Nessus Name: Oracle Linux 4 / 5 : exim (ELSA-2011-0153)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍
Nessus Port: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 68821
OpenVAS Name: FreeBSD Ports: exim
OpenVAS File: 🔍
OpenVAS Family: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

MetaSploit ID: exim4_string_format.rb
MetaSploit Name: Exim4 string_format Function Heap Buffer Overflow
MetaSploit File: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍
TippingPoint: 🔍
Fortigate IPS: 🔍

Timelineinfo

11/30/2010 🔍
12/07/2010 +7 days 🔍
12/07/2010 +0 days 🔍
12/10/2010 +3 days 🔍
12/11/2010 +1 days 🔍
12/14/2010 +3 days 🔍
12/14/2010 +0 days 🔍
12/26/2010 +12 days 🔍
01/25/2011 +30 days 🔍
07/12/2013 +899 days 🔍
03/19/2015 +615 days 🔍
04/22/2026 +4052 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: RHSA-2011:0153
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2010-4345 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2010-4345
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-55725

OVAL: 🔍

CERT: 🔍
SecurityFocus: 45341 - Exim ALT_CONFIG_ROOT_ONLY 'exim' User Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Secunia: 42576
OSVDB: 69860 - CVE-2010-4345 - Exim - Privilege Escalation Issue
SecurityTracker: 1024859
Vulnerability Center: 28787 - Exim 4.72 and Earlier Allows Local Privilege Escalation, Medium
Vupen: ADV-2010-3171

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013
See also: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 03/19/2015 23:27
Updated: 04/22/2026 09:30
Changes: 03/19/2015 23:27 (79), 07/30/2019 12:20 (20), 10/06/2021 20:20 (2), 10/06/2021 20:27 (1), 10/06/2021 20:34 (1), 04/24/2024 08:27 (23), 07/16/2024 22:47 (12), 09/09/2024 22:29 (1), 12/29/2024 23:16 (1), 04/22/2026 09:30 (10)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Discussion

Want to stay up to date on a daily basis?

Enable the mail alert feature now!