CVE-2017-16944

HIGHNVD 7.57.5—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 7.5 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 7.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
7.5
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 63%
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 63%CVSS: 7.5Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

The receive_msg function in receive.c in the SMTP daemon in Exim 4.88 and 4.89 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and stack exhaustion) via vectors involving BDAT commands and an improper check for a '.' character signifying the end of the content, related to the bdat_getc function.

CVSS v3
7.5
EG Score
7.5(medium)
EPSS
99.1%
KEV
Not listed

Published

November 25, 2017

Last Modified

May 13, 2026

References (18)

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuexim4-daemon-light (4.88-5ubuntu1.3) @ zesty2026-05-22ubuntu

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

(1)

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 3× in last 7d / 23× 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. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-22 21:05 UTCOSV refresh
  11. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-10 22:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 26 more
  1. 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-05 12:27 UTCOSV refresh
  3. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-05-22 07:42 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-05-22 07:42 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-05-22 07:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-05-20 04:33 UTCOSV refresh
  25. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-43184✓ verified
    First seen Nov 27, 2017

    Exim 4.89 - 'BDAT' Denial of Service

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2017-16944?
CVE-2017-16944 is a high vulnerability published on November 25, 2017. The receivemsg function in receive.c in the SMTP daemon in Exim 4.88 and 4.89 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and stack exhaustion) via vectors involving BDAT commands and an improper check for a '.' character signifying the end of the content, related to the…
When was CVE-2017-16944 disclosed?
CVE-2017-16944 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on November 25, 2017, with the most recent update on May 13, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2017-16944 actively exploited?
CVE-2017-16944 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 99.1% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-16944?
CVE-2017-16944 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2017-16944?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2017-16944, 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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