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CVE-2014-3956· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

The sm_close_on_exec function in conf.c in sendmail before 8.14.9 has arguments in the wrong order, and consequently skips setting expected

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 7/100)

  • 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: 0.63% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Fixed version: sendmail (Debian:12) 8.14.4-6.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to sendmail (Debian:12) 8.14.4-6 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

The sm_close_on_exec function in conf.c in sendmail before 8.14.9 has arguments in the wrong order, and consequently skips setting expected FD_CLOEXEC flags, which allows local users to access unintended high-numbered file descriptors via a custom mail-delivery program.

LowCVSS 1.9 · v2.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Jun 4, 2014
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.6% · 49th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

7

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
7 / 40 · 1.9 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.6%

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.

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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
sendmailsendmail
freebsdfreebsd
hphpux
fedoraprojectfedora

Affected versions

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

  • fedoraproject fedora20
  • freebsd freebsdup to 9.2 inclusive
  • hp hpuxup to b.11.31 inclusive
  • sendmail sendmailup to 8.14.8 inclusive
  • sendmail sendmail8.10
  • sendmail sendmail8.10.0
  • sendmail sendmail8.10.1
  • sendmail sendmail8.10.2
  • sendmail sendmail8.11.0
  • sendmail sendmail8.11.1
  • sendmail sendmail8.11.2
  • sendmail sendmail8.11.3
  • sendmail sendmail8.11.4
  • sendmail sendmail8.11.5
  • sendmail sendmail8.11.6
  • sendmail sendmail8.11.7
  • sendmail sendmail8.12.0
  • sendmail sendmail8.12.1
  • sendmail sendmail8.12.10
  • sendmail sendmail8.12.11

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12sendmailbefore 8.14.4-68.14.4-6

Same product

sendmail: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2002-1337Buffer overflow in Sendmail 5.79 to 8.12.7 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via certain formatted address fields, related t
    62This week
  • 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 a
    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 man-i
    31Monitor
  • CVE-2006-4434Use-after-free vulnerability in Sendmail before 8.13.8 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a long "header line"
    31Monitor
  • CVE-2002-2261Sendmail 8.9.0 through 8.12.6 allows remote attackers to bypass relaying restrictions enforced by the 'check_relay' function by spoofing a b
    31Monitor

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:sendmail8.14.4-6 · Debian:12Package 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).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

    If successful

    Confidentiality
    P · data can be read
    Integrity
    none
    Availability
    none
    Attack complexity
    M
    Confidentiality impact
    P
    Integrity impact
    None
    Availability impact
    None

    Weakness class (CWE)

    CWE-200 · Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

    CVSS vector

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

    nvd-primary

    Root cause

    The extension requests broader permissions than its function needs and sends the data it collects out for purposes beyond its stated function.

    The bug in code

    The whole CWE-200 class

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

    Vulnerable

    json
    {  "permissions": ["tabs", "<all_urls>"],  "background": { "service_worker": "analytics.js" }}

    Fixed

    json
    {  "permissions": ["activeTab"],  "host_permissions": ["https://yildiz.example/*"]}

    Attack context

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

    Change log

    1. Fix✗ → ✓

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

    References

    Show all references (16 more)

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

    All records