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CVE-2016-6893· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the user options page in GNU Mailman 2.1.x before 2.1.23 allows remote attackers to hijac

Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the user options page in GNU Mailman 2.1.x before 2.1.23 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that modify an option, as demonstrated by gaining access to the credentials of a victim's account.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Sep 2, 2016
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
1.6% · 75th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

35

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 1.6%

Affected systems

VendorProduct
gnumailman

Affected versions

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

  • gnu mailman2.1
  • gnu mailman2.1.1
  • gnu mailman2.1.10
  • gnu mailman2.1.10b1
  • gnu mailman2.1.10b3
  • gnu mailman2.1.10b4
  • gnu mailman2.1.11
  • gnu mailman2.1.12
  • gnu mailman2.1.13
  • gnu mailman2.1.14
  • gnu mailman2.1.14-1
  • gnu mailman2.1.15
  • gnu mailman2.1.16
  • gnu mailman2.1.17
  • gnu mailman2.1.18
  • gnu mailman2.1.18-1
  • gnu mailman2.1.19
  • gnu mailman2.1.2
  • gnu mailman2.1.20
  • gnu mailman2.1.21

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:7mailmanbefore 1:2.1.15-1+deb7u21:2.1.15-1+deb7u2
Debian:8mailmanbefore 1:2.1.18-2+deb8u11:2.1.18-2+deb8u1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedmailmanbefore 2.1.23-1.22.1.23-1.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::servermailmanbefore 3:2.1.15-30.el7_9.23:2.1.15-30.el7_9.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::servermailman-debuginfobefore 3:2.1.15-30.el7_9.23:2.1.15-30.el7_9.2
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Point of Sale 11 SP3mailmanbefore 2.1.15-9.6.6.12.1.15-9.6.6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Point of Sale 11 SP3mailmanbefore 2.1.15-9.6.12.12.1.15-9.6.12.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4mailmanbefore 2.1.15-9.6.3.12.1.15-9.6.3.1
SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 7mailmanbefore 2.1.17-3.3.32.1.17-3.3.3

Same product

gnu: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2021-44227In GNU Mailman before 2.1.38, a list member or moderator can get a CSRF token and craft an admin request (using that token) to set a new adm
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2016-7123Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the admin web interface in GNU Mailman before 2.1.15 allows remote attackers to hijack th
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2025-43920GNU Mailman 2.1.39, as bundled in cPanel (and WHM), in certain external archiver configurations, allows unauthenticated attackers to execute
    32Monitor
  • CVE-2021-42097GNU Mailman before 2.1.35 may allow remote Privilege Escalation.
    32Monitor
  • CVE-2015-2775Directory traversal vulnerability in GNU Mailman before 2.1.20, when not using a static alias, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary
    32Monitor
  • CVE-2005-4153Mailman 2.1.4 through 2.1.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a message that causes the server to "fail with an Overf
    32Monitor

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:mailman1:2.1.15-1+deb7u2 · Debian:7Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:mailman2.1.23-1.2 · openSUSE:TumbleweedPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:mailman3:2.1.15-30.el7_9.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::serverPackage registry (OSV)
red hat:mailman-debuginfo3:2.1.15-30.el7_9.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::serverPackage registry (OSV)
suse:mailman2.1.15-9.6.3.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4Package 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

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • A user must open a link or visit a page.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

State-changing requests rely on the session cookie the browser sends automatically; nothing verifies that the request came from the user’s own page.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-352 class

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

Vulnerable

ts
app.use(session({ cookie: { httpOnly: true } }));app.post("/account/address", updateAddress);

Fixed

ts
app.use(session({ cookie: { httpOnly: true, sameSite: "lax" } }));app.post("/account/address", csrfProtection, updateAddress);

Attack context

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

ATT&CK techniques

—

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.

We use this product, ask for help

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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

References

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

All records