Executive brief
Sendmail is a widely used mail transfer agent responsible for routing and delivering email across the internet. A critical security flaw in older versions allows a remote attacker to gain full administrative control (root access) over the mail server by sending a specially crafted email. This could lead to the complete compromise of the server, including the theft of sensitive communications and the ability to use the system for further attacks.
Technical details
A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the MIME handling component of Sendmail versions 8.8.0 and 8.8.1. The flaw is triggered when the application processes malformed MIME headers or content, leading to memory corruption. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this by sending a crafted email message to the vulnerable server. Successful exploitation allows for arbitrary code execution with root privileges, granting the attacker full control over the host operating system. This vulnerability is reachable over the network via the SMTP protocol.
Affected products
- Sendmail Sendmail 8.8.0, 8.8.1
Timeline
- 1996-10-01: disclosed: Initial publication date