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CVE-2017-16844

38
FAUCET Score

CVE-2017-16844 is a critical heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the loadbuf function of formail in procmail 3.22. This flaw allows remote attackers to trigger a denial of service or potentially execute arbitrary code through a specially crafted email due to a hardcoded realloc size. With a CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL), it presents a severe risk, requiring no user interaction or authentication for exploitation. While there are no known active exploits, Metasploit modules, or ExploitDB entries, the vulnerability has garnered significant community discussion, indicating awareness and potential for future exploitation.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
3.22CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:procmail:procmail:3.22:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

9.8CRITICAL

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
3.9
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
12.52%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
95.8%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-24
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.1252 is in the 92nd percentile among its peer group of 36,829 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.3 Bluesky, 0.3 Mastodon, and 2.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (12)

microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: azl3 procmail 3.22-53 on Azure Linux 3.0Fixed in: 3.22-53
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: cbl2 procmail 3.22-53 on CBL Mariner 2.0Fixed in: 3.22-53
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: 16903-17084Fixed in: 3.22-53
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: 16902-16823Fixed in: 3.22-53
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: 16903-16817Fixed in: 3.22-53
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: CBL Mariner 2.0 ARMFixed in: 3.22-53
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Azure Linux 3.0 x64Fixed in: 3.22-53
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Azure Linux 3.0 ARMFixed in: 3.22-53
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: CBL Mariner 2.0 x64Fixed in: 3.22-53
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: procmail-0:3.22-36.el7_4.1
View patch
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: procmail
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: procmail

Vendor Advisories (4)

microsoft2024-Jun/CVE-2017-16844

CVE-2017-16844

Jun 11, 2024
microsoft2021-Dec/CVE-2017-16844

CVE-2017-16844

Dec 14, 2021
microsoft2017-Nov/CVE-2017-16844Critical

Heap-based buffer overflow in the loadbuf function in formisc.c in formail in procmail 3.22 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted e-mail message because of a hardcoded realloc size a different vulnerability than CVE-2014-3618.

Nov 14, 2017
redhatCVE-2017-16844Important

procmail: Heap-based buffer overflow in loadbuf function in formisc.c

Sep 22, 2017

References

access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2017:3269
Third Party Advisory
bugs.debian.org / cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi
Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
lists.debian.org / debian-lts-announce/2017/11/msg00019.html
debian.org / security/2017/dsa-4041
Third Party Advisory
securitytracker.com / id/1039844
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry