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Fencer Vulns
medium 6.7

CVE-2018-11805 json

In Apache SpamAssassin before 3.4.3, nefarious CF files can be configured to run system commands without any output or errors.

published 2019-12-12 6 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-3797

cvss
6.7
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.9%
EPSS 0.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 60%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In Apache SpamAssassin before 3.4.3, nefarious CF files can be configured to run system commands without any output or errors. With this, exploits can be injected in a number of scenarios. In addition to upgrading to SA 3.4.3, we recommend that users should only use update channels or 3rd party .cf files from trusted places.

Patch / fix

  • apache spamassassin 3.4.3
  • spamassassin Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.4.3~rc6-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-11805

  • spamassassin Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.16.04.2
  • spamassassin Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.18.04.2
  • spamassassin Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.14.04.1+esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-11805

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • spamassassin RHEL 8 3.4.2-10.el8

red hat advisories RHSA-2020:4625

  • spamassassin SLES for SAP 15, SLES 15-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15-LTSS +1 more 3.4.2-7.9.1
  • spamassassin SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP1, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 3.4.2-12.5.1
  • spamassassin SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES for SAP 12 SP4, SLES for SAP 12 SP3 +14 more 3.4.2-44.8.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2020:0813-1SUSE-SU-2020:0811-1SUSE-SU-2020:0810-1

  • spamassassin openSUSE Tumbleweed 3.4.6-71.3
  • spamassassin openSUSE Leap 15.1 3.4.2-lp151.8.3.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:11395-1openSUSE-SU-2020:0446-1

  • spamassassin Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +14 more 3.4.3-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2018-11805

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • spamassassin Arch Linux 3.4.3-1

arch linux advisories AVG-1077

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2018-11805 updated cvss 6.7

spamassassin: crafted configuration files can run system commands without any output or errors

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 spamassassin Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 spamassassin Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 spamassassin
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “The attack is triggered by malicious specially crafted .cf files which are configuration files for spamassasin. Do not use untrusted configuration files for spamassisin”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) spamassassin 3.4.2-10.el8
    fixed: vendor fix “The attack is triggered by malicious specially crafted .cf files which are configuration files for spamassasin. Do not use untrusted configuration files for spamassisin” RHSA-2020:4625

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.91% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 60% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 6.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

  • Apache Apache SpamAssassin

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.