# CVE-2010-4345: Exim Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

> CVE-2010-4345: Exim Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. CVSS 7.8 (CVSS 3.1), in CISA KEV.

Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2010-4345
Last updated: 2025-10-22T00:05:50Z

- Published: 2010-12-14 15:00 UTC · Updated: 2025-10-22 00:05 UTC · Assigner: redhat
- CVSS: 7.8 (CVSS 3.1) · Severity: High · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS: 18.0%, 97th percentile (scored 2026-10-25)
- CISA KEV: yes, added 2022-03-25, federal due date 2022-04-15, ransomware use: Unknown

## Description

Exim 4.72 and earlier allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging the ability of the exim user account to specify an alternate configuration file with a directive that contains arbitrary commands, as demonstrated by the spool\_directory directive.

## CISA required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

## Affected vendors and products

- Exim: Exim

## References

- [CVE record on cve.org](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2010-4345)
- [NVD entry](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2010-4345)
- [http://bugs.exim.org/show\_bug.cgi?id=1044](http://bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1044)
- [http://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20101209.172233.abcba158.en.html](http://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20101209.172233.abcba158.en.html)
- [http://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20101210.164935.385e04d0.en.html](http://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20101210.164935.385e04d0.en.html)
- [http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-12/msg00003.html](http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-12/msg00003.html)
- [http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/12/10/1](http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/12/10/1)
- [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show\_bug.cgi?id=662012](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=662012)
- [http://secunia.com/advisories/42576](http://secunia.com/advisories/42576)
- [http://secunia.com/advisories/42930](http://secunia.com/advisories/42930)
- [http://secunia.com/advisories/43128](http://secunia.com/advisories/43128)
- [http://secunia.com/advisories/43243](http://secunia.com/advisories/43243)
- [http://www.cpanel.net/2010/12/critical-exim-security-update.html](http://www.cpanel.net/2010/12/critical-exim-security-update.html)
- [http://www.debian.org/security/2010/dsa-2131](http://www.debian.org/security/2010/dsa-2131)
- [http://www.debian.org/security/2011/dsa-2154](http://www.debian.org/security/2011/dsa-2154)
- [http://www.exim.org/lurker/message/20101207.215955.bb32d4f2.en.html](http://www.exim.org/lurker/message/20101207.215955.bb32d4f2.en.html)
- [http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/758489](http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/758489)
- [http://www.metasploit.com/modules/exploit/unix/smtp/exim4\_string\_format](http://www.metasploit.com/modules/exploit/unix/smtp/exim4_string_format)
- [http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/04/7](http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/04/7)
- [http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2011-0153.html](http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2011-0153.html)
- [http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/515172/100/0/threaded](http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/515172/100/0/threaded)
- [http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/45341](http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/45341)
- [http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1024859](http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1024859)
- [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/11/exim\_code\_execution\_peril/](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/11/exim_code_execution_peril/)
- [http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1060-1](http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1060-1)
- [http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/3171](http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/3171)
- [http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/3204](http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/3204)
- [http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0135](http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0135)
- [http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0245](http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0245)
- [http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0364](http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0364)

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_Sources: CVE records from the CVE Program (cve.org). CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. (https://www.cve.org/) This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. (https://nvd.nist.gov/) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog from CISA. (https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog) EPSS scores from FIRST (Exploit Prediction Scoring System). (https://www.first.org/epss/)_


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Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2010-4345 · Markdown: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2010-4345.md · JSON: https://rewindex.com/api/v1/cves/CVE-2010-4345 · Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Generated 2026-10-26T01:58:44.586Z