Quick answers
- Is CVE-1999-0971 exploited in the wild?
- No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-1999-0971 being exploited in the wild.
- How severe is CVE-1999-0971?
- High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.2, published 22 July 1997.
- Which products and versions are affected?
- Exim Exim.
- Is there a fix for CVE-1999-0971?
- No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.
- How is CVE-1999-0971 attacked?
- It is attacked with local access, in an operating system.
- Am I affected by CVE-1999-0971?
- Check whether you run Exim. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.
Technical details
A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the Exim mail transfer agent (MTA) during the processing of user-defined .forward files. The flaw is triggered when the software handles an excessively long string within the ':include:' option of the file. Because Exim often runs with high privileges to handle mail delivery, a local attacker can exploit this memory corruption to execute arbitrary code with root authority. This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability requiring the attacker to have shell access or the ability to create files on the local filesystem.
Affected products
- Exim Exim
Timeline
- 1997-07-22: disclosed