#VU3118 Remote code injection in PHPMailer - CVE-2016-10033
Published: December 30, 2016 / Updated: July 7, 2025
Vulnerability identifier: #VU3118
Vulnerability risk: High
CVSSv4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:A/U:Amber
CVE-ID: CVE-2016-10033
CWE-ID: CWE-94
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
The vulnerability is being exploited in the wild
Vulnerable software:
PHPMailer
PHPMailer
Software vendor:
phpmailer.sourceforge.net
phpmailer.sourceforge.net
Description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.
The vulnerability exists due to insufficient sanitization of user-supplied input passed via specially crafted “From” address to mailSend() function. A remote attacker can use backslashed double quote character (e.g. \") to pass additional commands to original mail command and execute them with privileges of the current web server user.
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may result in system compromise.
Remediation
Install the latest version 5.2.21 from vendor's website.
External links
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140291/PHPMailer-Remote-Code-Execution.html
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Dec/78
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/archive/1/539963/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95108
- https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/668-20161205-phpmailer-security-advisory.html
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v5.2.18
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/About-the-CVE-2016-10033-and-CVE-2016-10045-vulnerabilit...
- https://legalhackers.com/advisories/PHPMailer-Exploit-Remote-Code-Exec-CVE-2016-10033-Vuln.html
- https://www.drupal.org/psa-2016-004
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40968/
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40970/