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CVE-2025-30232· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

A use-after-free in Exim 4.96 through 4.98.1 could allow users (with command-line access) to escalate privileges.

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 31/100)

  • 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: 0.52% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: exim4 (Debian:12) 4.96-15+deb12u7; exim4 (Debian:13) 4.98.1-2; exim (openSUSE:Tumbleweed) 4.98.2-1.1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to exim4 (Debian:12) 4.96-15+deb12u7; exim4 (Debian:13) 4.98.1-2; exim (openSUSE:Tumbleweed) 4.98.2-1.1 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

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Mar 27, 2025
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.5% · 43th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

31

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.5%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
7.8
CNA · mitre
8.1
0.3 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

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
eximexim

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

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Affected versions

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

  • exim exim4.96 and later · up to 4.98.1 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (mitre). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Exim Exim

    • 4.96 and later · before 4.98.2affected

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12exim4before 4.96-15+deb12u74.96-15+deb12u7
Debian:13exim4before 4.98.1-24.98.1-2
openSUSE:Tumbleweedeximbefore 4.98.2-1.14.98.2-1.1

Same product

exim: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2019-10149A flaw was found in Exim versions 4.87 to 4.91 (inclusive).KEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2018-6789An issue was discovered in the base64d function in the SMTP listener in Exim before 4.90.1.KEV
    94Now
  • CVE-2010-4344Heap-based buffer overflow in the string_vformat function in string.c in Exim before 4.70 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code KEV
    91Now
  • CVE-2019-16928Exim 4.92 through 4.92.2 allows remote code execution, a different vulnerability than CVE-2019-15846.KEV
    81Now
  • CVE-2010-4345Exim 4.72 and earlier allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging the ability of the exim user account to specify an alternate confiKEV
    66This week
  • CVE-2025-26794Exim 4.98 before 4.98.1, when SQLite hints and ETRN serialization are used, allows remote SQL injection.
    62This week

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:exim44.96-15+deb12u7 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:exim4.98.2-1.1 · openSUSE:TumbleweedPackage 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.

  • CVE-2026-45185411 days apartExim before 4.99.3, in certain GnuTLS configurations, has a remotely reachable use-after-free in the BDAT body parsing path.
    39Monitor

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

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • 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
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-416 · Use After Free

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-416 class

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

Vulnerable

c
free(dev->buf);/* ... another thread is still running ... */process(dev->buf);

Fixed

c
lock(&dev->lock);free(dev->buf);dev->buf = NULL;unlock(&dev->lock);

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.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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

References

Show all references (1 more)

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

All records