critical
CVE-2016-10045
Remote Code Execution
In the Trivy database since at least 24 Oct 2026, 07:11 UTCWhen it arrived before that build is not recorded.
Severity by source
NVD9.8CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
GHSA9.8CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Trivy's own label is CRITICAL. Rated critical by NVD, GHSA. Rated lower by Ubuntu (medium).
Description
The isMail transport in PHPMailer before 5.2.20 might allow remote attackers to pass extra parameters to the mail command and consequently execute arbitrary code by leveraging improper interaction between the escapeshellarg function and internal escaping performed in the mail function in PHP. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2016-10033.
Affected packages and fixed versions
| Source | Package | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| composer::GitHub Security Advisory Composer | phpmailer/phpmailer | 5.2.20 |
| alpine 3.2 | php-phpmailer | 5.2.4-r0 |
| alpine 3.3 | php-phpmailer | 5.2.4-r0 |
| alpine 3.4 | php5-phpmailer | 5.2.0-r1 |
| alpine 3.5 | php5-phpmailer | 5.2.4-r1 |
| composer::PHP Security Advisories Database | phpmailer/phpmailer | no fix listed |
| ubuntu 16.04-ESM | libphp-phpmailer | 5.2.14+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
References
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/12/28/1
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140286/PHPMailer-Remote-Code-Execution.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140350/PHPMailer-Sendmail-Argument-Injection.html
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Dec/81
- http://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/multi/http/phpmailer_arg_injection
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539967/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95130
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037533
All 24 references
- https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/668-20161205-phpmailer-security-advisory.html
- https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/phpmailer/phpmailer/CVE-2016-10045.yaml
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v5.2.20
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/security/advisories/GHSA-4pc3-96mx-wwc8
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/About-the-CVE-2016-10033-and-CVE-2016-10045-vulnerabilities
- https://legalhackers.com/advisories/PHPMailer-Exploit-Remote-Code-Exec-CVE-2016-10045-Vuln-Patch-Bypass.html
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10045
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-5956-1
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-10045
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40969
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40969/
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40986
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40986/
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42221
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42221/