CVE-2016-10045
9.8 · CRITICALOverview
CVE-2016-10045 is a critical-severity vulnerability affecting phpmailer_project phpmailer. It was published on December 30, 2016 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, rated CRITICAL. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
The 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.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from phpmailer_project. Update phpmailer to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| phpmailer_project | phpmailer | >= 0, < 5.2.20 | Affected |
| wordpress | wordpress | 0 | Affected |
| joomla | joomla\! | 1.5.0 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2016-10045?
CVE-2016-10045 is a critical-severity vulnerability affecting phpmailer_project phpmailer. It was published on December 30, 2016 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).
How severe is CVE-2016-10045?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, rated CRITICAL. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2016-10045?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from phpmailer_project. Update phpmailer to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2016-10045?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2016-10045 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
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