CVE-2019-15846

51

FAUCET Score

CVE-2019-15846 is a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability affecting Exim mail server versions prior to 4.92.2, specifically exploitable via a trailing backslash. With a CVSS score of 9.8, this flaw allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary code as root with low attack complexity and no user interaction required, leading to complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. While no public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB) is listed, the vulnerability has garnered significant community discussion and media coverage, including reports of it being exploited in Russia-linked attacks.

Impacted Technologies

Vendor	Product	Version(s)	CPE
		< 4.92.2CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:a:exim:exim::::::::
		8.0CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:::::::*
		9.0CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:::::::*
		10.0CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:::::::*

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

35.74%

Probability of exploitation in next 30 days

EPSS Percentile

98.3%

Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group

As of 2026-07-27

Model: v2026.06.15

This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.3574 is in the 96th percentile among its peer group of 36,897 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

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

Remediation

Vendor Patches (7)

boschvendor investigatingvia llm_extracted

citrix_adcvendor investigatingvia llm_extracted

esetvendor investigatingvia llm_extracted

giteavendor investigatingvia llm_extracted

googlevendor investigatingvia llm_extracted

rocketchatvendor investigatingvia llm_extracted

redhatend of lifevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: exim

Vendor Advisories (7)

giteallm-gitea-1d740bc5e0632096

redhatCVE-2019-15846Critical

exim: out-of-bounds access in string_interpret_escape() leading to buffer overflow in the SMTP delivery process

googlellm-google-dfc3dbd0891583f0

Security Advisory for CVE-2019-15846

esetllm-eset-fca75e7e48896950

citrix_adcllm-citrix_adc-f39a1b1016b0696c

boschllm-bosch-cfb1dd8a1918648c

Security Advisory for CVE-2019-15846

rocketchatllm-rocketchat-ec02abd19059415a

References

exim.org / static/doc/security/CVE-2019-15846.txt

MitigationVendor Advisory

lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00024.html

exim.org / static/doc/security/CVE-2019-15846.txt

lists.debian.org / debian-lts-announce/2019/09/msg00004.html

Mailing ListThird Party Advisory

lists.fedoraproject.org / archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FT3GY7V7SR2RHKNZNQCGXFWUSILVSZNU

lists.fedoraproject.org / archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/NDF37AUNETIOXY6ZLQAUBGBVUTMMV242

lists.fedoraproject.org / archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/SBNHDAF74RI6VK2JVSEIE3VYNL7JJDYM

seclists.org / bugtraq/2019/Sep/13

Mailing ListThird Party Advisory

security.gentoo.org / glsa/201909-06

usn.ubuntu.com / 4124-1

usn.ubuntu.com / 4124-2

debian.org / security/2019/dsa-4517

kb.cert.org / vuls/id/672565

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/06/1

Mailing ListThird Party Advisory

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/06/2

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/06/4

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/06/5

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/06/6

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/06/8

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/07/1

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/07/2

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/08/1

openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2019/09/09/1