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NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2002-0986: The mail function in PHP 4.x to 4.2.2 does not filter ASCII control characters from its arguments, which could allow remote attackers to…

MediumCVSS 5.0 · v2.0—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 21/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 4.7% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 91.9% of all records.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: php3 (Debian:3.0) 3.0.18-23.1woody1; php4 (Debian:3.0) 4.1.2-5.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to php3 (Debian:3.0) 3.0.18-23.1woody1; php4 (Debian:3.0) 4.1.2-5 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

The mail function in PHP 4.x to 4.2.2 does not filter ASCII control characters from its arguments, which could allow remote attackers to modify mail message content, including mail headers, and possibly use PHP as a "spam proxy."

Published
Sep 24, 2002
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
4.7% · 91th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

21

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
20 / 40 · 5.0 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 4.7%

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2002-0986

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
phpphp

Using php? Add it to your stack and be the first to know about CVEs like this one. (PHP)

Watch new CVEs for php

When you'll hear from us

  • when a new CVE affecting this product is published
  • when a record in your stack enters KEV or is weaponized

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits every 10 minutes on paid plans, on the hour on the free plan.

Your free account also gets you

  • CVE alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools, at most 30 a day (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every Monday

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • php php3.0.18
  • php php4.0
  • php php4.0.1
  • php php4.0.2
  • php php4.0.3
  • php php4.0.4
  • php php4.0.5
  • php php4.0.6
+7 more rows
  • php php4.0.7
  • php php4.1.0
  • php php4.1.1
  • php php4.1.2
  • php php4.2.0
  • php php4.2.1
  • php php4.2.2

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:3.0php3before 3.0.18-23.1woody13.0.18-23.1woody1
Debian:3.0php4before 4.1.2-54.1.2-5

Same product

php: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2024-4577Argument Injection in PHP-CGIKEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2019-11043Underflow in PHP-FPM can lead to RCEKEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2012-1823sapi/cgi/cgi_main.c in PHP before 5.3.12 and 5.4.x before 5.4.2, when configured as a CGI script (aka php-cgi), does not properly handle…KEV
    99Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2002-0484Aug 12, 2002 · move_uploaded_file in PHP does not does not check for the base directory (open_basedir), which could allow remote attackers to upload files…
    23Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2002-0985Sep 24, 2002 · Argument injection vulnerability in the mail function for PHP 4.x to 4.2.2 may allow attackers to bypass safe mode restrictions and modify…
    31Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2002-1783Dec 31, 2002 · CRLF injection vulnerability in PHP 4.2.1 through 4.2.3, when allow_url_fopen is enabled, allows remote attackers to modify HTTP headers…
    25Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:php33.0.18-23.1woody1 · Debian:3.0Package registry (OSV)
debian:php44.1.2-5 · Debian:3.0Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Not on record for this CVE: patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
P · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none
Attack complexity
Low
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
P
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

—

CVSS vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

References

Show all references (16 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records