NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2002-1337: Buffer overflow in Sendmail 5.79 to 8.12.7 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via certain formatted address fields, related…

CriticalCVSS 10.0 · v2.0—Proof of concept Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: This week (action score 62/100)

Public proof-of-concept code exists (Exploit-DB); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 72.6% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.4% of all records.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: sendmail (Debian:12) 8.13.0.PreAlpha4-0; sendmail (Debian:3.0) 8.12.3-5; sendmail-wide (Debian:3.0) 8.12.3+3.5Wbeta-5.2.

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window. Upgrade to sendmail (Debian:12) 8.13.0.PreAlpha4-0; sendmail (Debian:3.0) 8.12.3-5; sendmail-wide (Debian:3.0) 8.12.3+3.5Wbeta-5.2 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

Buffer overflow in Sendmail 5.79 to 8.12.7 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via certain formatted address fields, related to sender and recipient header comments as processed by the crackaddr function of headers.c.

DSA-257

Published: Mar 7, 2003
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 72.6% · 99th percentile
CWE: CWE-120

Report tools

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Action score

This week

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window.

CVSS: 40 / 40 · 10.0 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 22 / 30 · 72.6%

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
Proof of concept exists, no weaponized module
A fix has been released

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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.

Vendor	Product	CPE
sendmail	sendmail	cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail
hp	alphaserver sc	cpe:2.3:h:hp:alphaserver_sc
gentoo	linux	cpe:2.3:o:gentoo:linux
hp	hp-ux	cpe:2.3:o:hp:hp-ux
netbsd	netbsd	cpe:2.3:o:netbsd:netbsd
oracle	solaris	cpe:2.3:o:oracle:solaris
sun	sunos	cpe:2.3:o:sun:sunos
windriver	bsdos	cpe:2.3:o:windriver:bsdos
windriver	platform sa	cpe:2.3:o:windriver:platform_sa

Affected versions

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

gentoo linux1.4
hp alphaserver scall versions
hp hp-ux10.10
hp hp-ux10.20
hp hp-ux11.0.4
hp hp-ux11.00
hp hp-ux11.11
hp hp-ux11.22

+12 more rows

netbsd netbsd1.5
netbsd netbsd1.5.1
netbsd netbsd1.5.2
netbsd netbsd1.5.3
netbsd netbsd1.6
oracle solaris2.6
oracle solaris7.0
oracle solaris8
oracle solaris9
sendmail sendmailbefore 8.9.3
sendmail sendmail8.10.0 and later · before 8.11.6
sendmail sendmail8.12.0 and later · before 8.12.8

Package-level exposure

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

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
Debian:12	sendmail	before 8.13.0.PreAlpha4-0	8.13.0.PreAlpha4-0
Debian:3.0	sendmail	before 8.12.3-5	8.12.3-5
Debian:3.0	sendmail-wide	before 8.12.3+3.5Wbeta-5.2	8.12.3+3.5Wbeta-5.2

Same product

sendmail: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2003-0161The prescan() function in the address parser (parseaddr.c) in Sendmail before 8.12.9 does not properly handle certain conversions from char…
52Plan
CVE-2006-0058Signal handler race condition in Sendmail 8.13.x before 8.13.6 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by triggering timeouts in…
39Monitor
CVE-2009-4565sendmail before 8.14.4 does not properly handle a '\0' character in a Common Name (CN) field of an X.509 certificate, which (1) allows…
31Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2002-2261Dec 31, 2002 · Sendmail 8.9.0 through 8.12.6 allows remote attackers to bypass relaying restrictions enforced by the 'check_relay' function by spoofing a…
31Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2002-2423Dec 31, 2002 · Sendmail 8.12.0 through 8.12.6 truncates log messages longer than 100 characters, which allows remote attackers to prevent the IP address…
25Monitor
Later →CVE-2003-0308May 15, 2003 · The Sendmail 8.12.3 package in Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 does not securely create temporary files, which could allow local users to gain…
28Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

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

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
debian:sendmail	8.13.0.PreAlpha4-0 · Debian:12	Package registry (OSV)
debian:sendmail-wide	8.12.3+3.5Wbeta-5.2 · Debian:3.0	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

Exploit-DB entry ×3

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
Source	Kind	Date
Exploit-DB entry	local	2001-01-01
Exploit-DB entry	remote	2003-03-02
Exploit-DB entry	remote	2003-03-02

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.

First PoCJan 1, 2001-795 d
PublishedMar 7, 2003
TodayNov 15, 2026+8654 d

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · 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: C · data can be read
Integrity: C · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: C · the service can be disrupted

Attack complexity: Low
Confidentiality impact: C
Integrity impact: C
Availability impact: C

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-120 · Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input ('Classic Buffer Overflow')

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

When data is copied, the source length is not compared with the size of the destination buffer. Excess data overwrites adjacent memory.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-120 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1char buf[256];
2memcpy(buf, pkt->data, pkt->len);

Fixed

1char buf[256];
2if (pkt->len > sizeof(buf)) {
3  return -EINVAL;
4}
5memcpy(buf, pkt->data, pkt->len);

Attack context

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

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log (1)

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/security/advisories/NetBSD-SA2003-002.txt.asc

Show all references (19 more)

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

All records