CVE-2003-0161

NONECVSS 0.0Weaponized
0.0
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • No confirmed exploitation signals yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 38%CVSS: —Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

The prescan() function in the address parser (parseaddr.c) in Sendmail before 8.12.9 does not properly handle certain conversions from char and int types, which can cause a length check to be disabled when Sendmail misinterprets an input value as a special "NOCHAR" control value, allowing attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via a buffer overflow attack using messages, a different vulnerability than CVE-2002-1337.

CVSS v3
—
EG Score
0.0(none)
EPSS
98.4%
KEV
Not listed

Published

April 2, 2003

Last Modified

June 16, 2026

References (54)

Patch Availability(3)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
redhatpatch2003-07-08redhat
redhatpatch2003-03-31redhat
redhatpatch2003-03-31redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

All Vendor Advisories

(3)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 22× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-13 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-09 11:45 UTCOSV refresh
  5. 2026-07-08 15:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-02 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-28 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-28 04:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-27 03:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-23 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-21 00:12 UTCOSV refresh
  16. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-15 17:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-13 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-12 23:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-11 13:55 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 26 more
  1. 2026-06-10 22:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-10 13:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-08 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-07 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-05 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-05-31 17:46 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-05-31 17:46 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-05-31 17:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-05-29 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-05-29 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-05-27 13:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-05-24 16:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-05-22 09:07 UTCOSV refresh
  24. 2026-05-20 22:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(2 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (2 Exploit-DB entries). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-24✓ verified
    First seen Apr 30, 2003

    Sendmail 8.12.8 (BSD) - 'Prescan()' Remote Command Execution

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-22442✓ verified
    First seen Mar 29, 2003

    Sendmail 8.11.6 - Address Prescan Memory Corruption

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(4)

What is CVE-2003-0161?
CVE-2003-0161 is a none vulnerability published on April 2, 2003. The prescan() function in the address parser (parseaddr.c) in Sendmail before 8.12.9 does not properly handle certain conversions from char and int types, which can cause a length check to be disabled when Sendmail misinterprets an input value as a special "NOCHAR" control value, allowing attackers…
When was CVE-2003-0161 disclosed?
CVE-2003-0161 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on April 2, 2003, with the most recent update on June 16, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2003-0161 actively exploited?
CVE-2003-0161 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 98.4% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
How do I remediate CVE-2003-0161?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2003-0161, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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