Sunday, October 18, 2026

Vulnerability in Exim Mail Server Let Hackers Gain Root Access Remotely From 5 Million Email Servers

A Vulnerability resides in the Exim mail server allows both local and remote attacker to execute the arbitrary code and exploit the system to gain root access.

Exim is a mail transfer agent (MTA) developed by the University of Cambridge as an open-source project and is responsible for receiving, routing and delivering e-mail messages used on Unix-like operating systems. 

Last June, RCE Vulnerability in Millions of Exim Email Server, allowed attackers to Execute Arbitrary Command & Control the Server Remotely

Exit server that accepts the TLS connections are vulnerable to execute the malicious code remotely by an attacker, and it does not depend on the TLS library, so both GnuTLS and OpenSSL are vulnerable.

In order to exploit the vulnerability, the attacker sending a SNI ending in a backslash-null sequence during the initial TLS handshake.

The remote code execution vulnerability affected all Exim mail server versions up to 4.92.1, and the vulnerability has been fixed in the new version 4.92.2.

Qualys analyzed the vulnerability and released a PoC exploit code, also the vulnerability can be tracked as CVE-2019-15846 .

Based on Shodan report, more than 5 Million Exim server is running across the internet and many of them are still unpatched.

Since the vulnerability has been patched and releases the new version, the server administrator is recommended to apply the patch immediately before cybercriminals exploit the Exim server.

You can download and build a fixed version here and GitHub.

Also read about Penetration Testing Mail Server with Email Spoofing – Exploiting Open Relay configured Public Mail Servers.

You can follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook for daily Cybersecurity and Hacking News update

Balaji
Balaji
BALAJI is an Ex-Security Researcher (Threat Research Labs) at Comodo Cybersecurity. Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder - Cyber Security News & GBHackers On Security.

Hot this week

How To Access Dark Web Anonymously and know its Secretive and Mysterious Activities

What is Deep Web The deep web, invisible web, or...

How to Build and Run a Security Operations Center (SOC Guide) – 2023

Today’s Cyber security operations center (CSOC) should have everything...

Russian Hackers Bypass EDR to Deliver a Weaponized TeamViewer Component

TeamViewer's popularity and remote access capabilities make it an...

Web Server Penetration Testing Checklist – 2026

Web server pentesting is performed under three significant categories: identity,...

ATM Penetration Testing – Advanced Testing Methods to Find The Vulnerabilities

ATM Penetration testing, Hackers have found different approaches to...

Hackers Use ConnectWise SkyKick Credentials to Access Microsoft 365, Halting Cloud Backups

Attackers abused compromised ConnectWise Cloud Backup credentials to access...

Anthropic’s Claude AI Uncovers Origins of NSA-Provided Cryptographic Keys After 25 Years

Anthropic says an internal Claude research model reconstructed how...

OpenBSD Kernel Flaw Dating Back 37 Years Enables Local Privilege Escalation to Root

A newly disclosed OpenBSD kernel exploitation chain combines a...

GhostAction Hackers Hide Credential-Stealing Malware in Fake Font Files Across 94 GitHub Repositories

GhostAction attackers have expanded their GitHub credential theft campaign...

SideCopy Hackers Target Indian Organizations With ReverseRAT Malware to Steal Data

Indian authorities have warned that SideCopy hackers are targeting...

New GhostBat Android Malware Targets 60 Banking and UPI Apps to Steal PINs

A new GhostBat RAT variant targets 60 Android financial...

New ROMULUS Malware Platform Uses Six Servers to Deliver Multiple Malicious Payloads

ROMULUS, a shared ClickFix delivery platform operating across six...

Related Articles

Recent News