Ecosyste.ms: Advisories

Security Advisories: MDE2OlNlY3VyaXR5QWR2aXNvcnlHSFNBLTRwYzMtOTZteC13d2M4

Remote code execution in PHPMailer

Impact

The isMail transport in PHPMailer before 5.2.20 might allow remote attackers to pass extra parameters to the mail command and consequently execute arbitrary code by leveraging improper interaction between the escapeshellarg function and internal escaping performed in the mail function in PHP. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2016-10033.

This issue really emphasises that it's worth avoiding the built-in PHP mail() function entirely.

Patches

Fixed in 5.2.20

Workarounds

Send via SMTP to localhost instead of calling the mail() function.

References

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10045
See also https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10033

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

• Open a private issue in the PHPMailer project

Permalink: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4pc3-96mx-wwc8
JSON: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories/MDE2OlNlY3VyaXR5QWR2aXNvcnlHSFNBLTRwYzMtOTZteC13d2M4
Source: GitHub Advisory Database
Origin: Unspecified
Severity: Critical
Classification: General
Published: about 4 years ago
Updated: 8 months ago

CVSS Score: 9.8
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Identifiers: GHSA-4pc3-96mx-wwc8, CVE-2016-10045
References:

• https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/security/advisories/GHSA-4pc3-96mx-wwc8
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10045
• https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/668-20161205-phpmailer-security-advisory.html
• https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/phpmailer/phpmailer/CVE-2016-10045.yaml
• https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v5.2.20
• https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/About-the-CVE-2016-10033-and-CVE-2016-10045-vulnerabilities
• https://legalhackers.com/advisories/PHPMailer-Exploit-Remote-Code-Exec-CVE-2016-10045-Vuln-Patch-Bypass.html
• https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40969/
• https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40986/
• https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42221/
• http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/12/28/1
• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140286/PHPMailer-Remote-Code-Execution.html
• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140350/PHPMailer-Sendmail-Argument-Injection.html
• http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Dec/81
• http://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/multi/http/phpmailer_arg_injection
• http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539967/100/0/threaded
• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95130
• http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037533
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4pc3-96mx-wwc8

Repository: https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer
Blast Radius: 42.0

Affected Packages