CVE-2016-10045

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Summary

CVECVE-2016-10045
StatePUBLISHED
Assignermitre
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2016-12-30 19:59:00 UTC
Updated2026-05-06 22:30:45 UTC
DescriptionThe 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.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 9.8 CRITICAL from [email protected]

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

EPSS: 0.933680000 probability, percentile 0.998190000 (date 2026-05-11)

Problem Types: CWE-77 | n/a

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Primary9.8CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
2.0[email protected]Primary7.5AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

CVSS v2.0 Breakdown

Access Vector
Network
Access Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Application Joomla Joomla! All All All All
Application Phpmailer Project Phpmailer All All All All
Application Wordpress Wordpress All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Na N/a affected n/a Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
PHPMailer-Exploit-Remote-Code-Exec-CVE-2016-10045-Vuln-Patch-Bypass af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 legalhackers.com Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory
PHPMailer Sendmail Argument Injection ≈ Packet Storm af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 packetstormsecurity.com Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
PHPMailer < 5.2.20 / SwiftMailer < 5.4.5-DEV / Zend Framework / zend-mail < 2.4.11 - 'AIO' 'PwnScriptum' Remote Code Execution - PHP webapps Exploit af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.exploit-db.com Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
PHPMailer Input Validation Flaw Lets Remote Users Execute Arbitrary Code on the Target System - SecurityTracker af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.securitytracker.com Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
oss-security - Re: PHPMailer < 5.2.18 Remote Code Execution [updated advisory] [CVE-2016-10033] af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 openwall.com Mailing List, Patch
Full Disclosure: PHPMailer < 5.2.20 Remote Code Execution PoC 0day Exploit (CVE-2016-10045) (Bypass of the CVE-2016-1033 patch) af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 seclists.org Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
CVE-2016-10033 PHPMailer Sendmail Argument Injection | Rapid7 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.rapid7.com Exploit, Third Party Advisory
PHPMailer < 5.2.20 - Remote Code Execution af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.exploit-db.com Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
PHPMailer CVE-2016-10045 Incomplete Fix Remote Code Execution Vulnerability af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.securityfocus.com Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
Release PHPMailer 5.2.20 · PHPMailer/PHPMailer · GitHub af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 github.com Patch, Vendor Advisory
PHPMailer Remote Code Execution ≈ Packet Storm af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 packetstormsecurity.com Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
PHPMailer < 5.2.20 with Exim MTA - Remote Code Execution - PHP webapps Exploit af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.exploit-db.com Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
SecurityFocus af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.securityfocus.com Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
[20161205] - PHPMailer Security Advisory af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 developer.joomla.org Third Party Advisory
About the CVE 2016 10033 and CVE 2016 10045 vulnerabilities · PHPMailer/PHPMailer Wiki · GitHub af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 github.com Patch, Vendor Advisory
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Legacy QID Mappings

  • 199517 Ubuntu Security Notification for PHPMailer Vulnerabilities (USN-5956-1)
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