CVE-2026-45185 json
Exim before 4.99.3, in certain GnuTLS configurations, has a remotely reachable use-after-free in the BDAT body parsing path.
published 2026-05-12 5 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2026-29824
- cvss
- 9.8
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 1.3%
- EPSS 1.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 69%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
Exim before 4.99.3, in certain GnuTLS configurations, has a remotely reachable use-after-free in the BDAT body parsing path. It is triggered when a client sends a TLS close_notify mid-body during a CHUNKING transfer, followed by a final cleartext byte on the same TCP connection. This can lead to heap corruption. An unauthenticated network attacker exploiting this vulnerability could execute arbitrary code.
Patch / fix
- Exim Exim 4.99.3
- exim4 Debian 12 4.96-15+deb12u9
- exim4 Debian 13 4.98.2-1+deb13u2
- exim4 Debian 14 4.99.2-2
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45185
- exim4 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 4.95-4ubuntu2.8
- exim4 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 4.97-4ubuntu4.5
- exim4 Ubuntu 25.10 4.98.2-1ubuntu2.2
- exim4 Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 4.99.1-1ubuntu1.2
- exim4 Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 4.93-13ubuntu1.12+esm1
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-45185
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
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-2026-45185 updated cvss 9.8
exim: Exim: Arbitrary code execution via use-after-free in BDAT body parsing.
-
Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat productsnot affected: vulnerable code not present
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
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- yes
- Technical impact
- total
- Assessed
- 5 mo ago
Exploit prediction
1.27% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 69% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Affected products
- Exim Exim
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-416 Use After Free
References
-
code.exim.org
/exim/wiki/wiki/EximSecurity
vendor-advisory
-
exim.org
product
-
exim.org
/static/doc/security/CVE-2026-45185.txt
broken-link
-
xbow.com
/blog/dead-letter-cve-2026-45185-xbow-found-rce-exim
third-party-advisory
-
news.ycombinator.com
/item?id=48111748
issue-tracking
-
openwall.com
/lists/oss-security/2026/05/12/4
mailing-list, third-party-advisory
-
exim.org
/static/doc/security/EXIM-Security-2026-05-01.1/
release-notes
-
openwall.com
/lists/oss-security/2026/05/12/25
mailing-list, third-party-advisory
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-45185
- NVD CVE-2026-45185
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