Opensmtpd
CVE-2020-35680
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
smtpd/lka_filter.c in OpenSMTPD before 6.8.0p1, in certain configurations, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and daemon crash) via a crafted pattern of. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Check pointers before dereferencing. Use static analysis tools to detect null pointer paths.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476), which allows attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer. smtpd/lka_filter.c in OpenSMTPD before 6.8.0p1, in certain configurations, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and daemon crash) via a crafted pattern of client activity, because the filter state machine does not properly maintain the I/O channel between the SMTP engine and the filters layer. Affected products include: Opensmtpd, Fedoraproject Fedora. Version information: before 6.8.0.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
smtpd/lka_filter.c in OpenSMTPD before 6.8.0p1, in certain configurations, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and daemon crash) via a crafted pattern of client activity, because the filter state machine does not properly maintain the I/O channel between the SMTP engine and the filters layer.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
OpenSMTPD before 6.6.4 allows remote code execution because of an out-of-bounds read in mta_io in mta_session.c for mult
smtp_mailaddr in smtp_session.c in OpenSMTPD 6.6, as used in OpenBSD 6.6 and other products, allows remote attackers to
Use-after-free vulnerability in OpenSMTPD before 5.7.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or e
An Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in OpenSMTPD allows local users to crash OpenSMTPD
OpenSMTPD before 5.3.2 does not properly handle SSL sessions, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service
OpenSMTPD before 6.6.4 allows local users to read arbitrary files (e.g., on some Linux distributions) because of a combi
ascii_load_sockaddr in smtpd in OpenBSD before 7.1 errata 024 and 7.2 before errata 020, and OpenSMTPD Portable before 7
smtpd/table.c in OpenSMTPD before 6.8.0p1 lacks a certain regfree, which might allow attackers to trigger a "very signif
Exploit-DB