Opensmtpd
CVE-2020-7247
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization OS command sanitization, avoid shell exec
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAI
smtp_mailaddr in smtp_session.c in OpenSMTPD 6.6, as used in OpenBSD 6.6 and other products, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root via a crafted SMTP session, as demonstrated. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Avoid passing user input to shell commands. Use language-specific APIs instead of shell execution. Apply strict input validation with allowlists.
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
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 OS Command Injection (CWE-78), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. smtp_mailaddr in smtp_session.c in OpenSMTPD 6.6, as used in OpenBSD 6.6 and other products, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root via a crafted SMTP session, as demonstrated by shell metacharacters in a MAIL FROM field. This affects the "uncommented" default configuration. The issue exists because of an incorrect return value upon failure of input validation. Affected products include: Openbsd Opensmtpd, Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Canonical Ubuntu Linux.
Know when Opensmtpd gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionNVD
smtp_mailaddr in smtp_session.c in OpenSMTPD 6.6, as used in OpenBSD 6.6 and other products, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root via a crafted SMTP session, as demonstrated by shell metacharacters in a MAIL FROM field. This affects the "uncommented" default configuration. The issue exists because of an incorrect return value upon failure of input validation.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
CISA KEV
EPSS
Exploit-DB
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
OS command injection occurs when an application passes unsanitized user input directly into system shell commands.
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
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/lka_filter.c in OpenSMTPD before 6.8.0p1, in certain configurations, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of
smtpd/table.c in OpenSMTPD before 6.8.0p1 lacks a certain regfree, which might allow attackers to trigger a "very signif