CVE-2017-16944

HIGHNVD 7.58.4▲
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 8.4 because EPSS predicts 63% probability of exploitation within the next 30 days (top 0.9% of all CVEs). NVD baseline CVSS 7.5 retained for reference. Confidence: see factors.

Triggered by: EPSS exploit prediction ≥85%
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
8.4EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 63%
  • Public exploit code is available (Exploit-DB (verified), epss top5pct, epss high, public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 63%CVSS: 7.5Exploit: Exploit-DB (verified) · epss top5pct · epss high · public exploitExposed: 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
8.4(high)
EG Risk
68(Track)
EG Risk 68/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity84% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
63%
EPSS %ILE
99%
KEV
Not listed

Published

November 25, 2017

Last Modified

June 17, 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.

Affected Packages

(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
exim4—4.89-13—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
exim4—4.89-13—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
exim4—4.89-13—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
exim4—4.89-13—
Debian:9(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
exim44.89-2, 4.89-2+deb9u1, 4.89-2+deb9u1~bpo8+14.89-2+deb9u2—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

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 6× 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. 2026-08-20 22:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-18 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-17 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-16 02:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-13 21:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-08-13 15:51 UTCOSV refresh
  9. 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-07 16:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-05 19:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-01 04:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-30 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-28 21:51 UTCOSV refresh
  17. 2026-07-28 15:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-25 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-23 01:28 UTCEG score recompute▲ 0.90
  22. 2026-07-22 22:07 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 63 more
  1. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-13 22:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-13 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-11 14:41 UTCOSV refresh
  11. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-22 21:05 UTCOSV refresh
  23. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-06-10 22:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-06-05 12:27 UTCOSV refresh
  40. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-05-22 07:42 UTCEG score recompute
  57. 2026-05-22 07:42 UTCVendor advisory
  58. 2026-05-22 07:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-05-20 04:33 UTCOSV refresh
  62. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 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 June 17, 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 63% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 0.9% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-16944?
CVE-2017-16944 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 8.4.
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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