CVE-2016-10033
CRITICAL severity · CVSS 9.8 · CWE-88 · actively exploited (CISA KEV)
9.8CVSS CRITICAL ● exploited
🔴 Actively exploited in the wild (CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities).
Added to KEV 2025-07-07. US federal agencies must patch by 2025-07-28.
Summary
The mailSend function in the isMail transport in PHPMailer before 5.2.18 might allow remote attackers to pass extra parameters to the mail command and consequently execute arbitrary code via a \" (backslash double quote) in a crafted Sender property.
Impact & exploitability
Attack vectorNetwork
Attack complexityLow
Privileges requiredNone
User interactionNone
Confidentiality impactHigh
Integrity impactHigh
Availability impactHigh
Exploit probability (EPSS)94%
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Affected products we track (1)
Recommendation
This vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild — patch affected products urgently. Open any affected product above for its exact safe version.
Official patch: http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Dec/78 ↗
Additional information
- NVD record
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Dec/78Patch
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539963/100/0/threadedAdvisory
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037533Advisory
- https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/668-20161205-phpmailer-security-advisory.htmlAdvisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140291/PHPMailer-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlAdvisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140350/PHPMailer-Sendmail-Argument-Injection.htmlAdvisory
- http://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/multi/http/phpmailer_arg_injectionAdvisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95108Advisory