CVE-2019-16928

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.8 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-03), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: cisa_kev, epss, ghsa, nvd
Trending — 5 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
9.8
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS: 42%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

Exim 4.92 through 4.92.2 allows remote code execution, a different vulnerability than CVE-2019-15846. There is a heap-based buffer overflow in string_vformat in string.c involving a long EHLO command.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(high)
EPSS
98.5%
KEV
⚠ Exploited

Published

September 27, 2019

Last Modified

November 7, 2025

Advisory Details (10)

Auto-updated Jun 1, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 31 Update: exim-4.92.3-1.fc31 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UY6HPRW7MR3KBQ5JFHH6OXM7YCZBJCOB/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 30 Update: exim-4.92.3-1.fc30 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/T3TJW4HPYH3O5HZCWGD6NSHTEBTTAPDC/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 29 Update: exim-4.92.3-1.fc29 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/EED7HM3MFIBAP5OIMJAFJ35JAJABTVSC/
generic

[exim-dev] [Bug 2449] New: Heap Overflow

https://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20190927.032457.c1044d4c.en.html
generic

oss-security - Re: Exim CVE-2019-16928 RCE using a heap-based buffer overflow

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/28/4
generic

oss-security - Re: Exim CVE-2019-16928 RCE using a heap-based buffer overflow

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/28/3
generic

oss-security - Re: Exim CVE-2019-16928 RCE using a heap-based buffer overflow

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/28/2
generic

oss-security - Exim CVE-2019-16928 RCE using a heap-based buffer overflow

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/28/1

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuexim4-daemon-light (4.92-4ubuntu1.4) @ disco2026-07-13ubuntu

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.

Weakness Classification(2)

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 119× in last 7d / 481× 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.

Showing the most recent 100 of 716 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-07-13 09:06 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-13 09:06 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-07-13 09:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-13 04:50 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-07-13 04:50 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-07-13 04:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-07-13 00:33 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-07-13 00:33 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-07-13 00:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-07-12 20:16 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-07-12 20:16 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-07-12 20:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-07-12 16:00 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-07-12 16:00 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-07-12 16:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-07-12 11:44 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-07-12 11:44 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-07-12 11:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-07-12 07:27 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-07-12 07:27 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-07-12 07:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-07-12 03:10 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-12 03:10 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-07-12 03:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-07-11 22:53 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-07-11 22:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-07-11 18:36 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-07-11 18:36 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-07-11 18:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-07-11 14:19 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-07-11 14:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-07-11 10:03 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-07-11 10:03 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-07-11 10:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-11 05:46 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-07-11 05:46 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-07-11 05:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-07-11 01:30 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-07-11 01:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-07-10 21:13 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-07-10 21:13 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-07-10 21:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-07-10 17:52 UTCCISA KEV update
  25. 2026-07-10 16:57 UTCEG score recompute
  26. 2026-07-10 16:57 UTCVendor advisory
  27. 2026-07-10 16:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-07-10 12:41 UTCEG score recompute
  29. 2026-07-10 12:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-07-10 08:24 UTCEG score recompute
  31. 2026-07-10 08:24 UTCVendor advisory
  32. 2026-07-10 08:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  33. 2026-07-10 04:06 UTCEG score recompute
  34. 2026-07-10 04:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-07-09 23:50 UTCEG score recompute
  36. 2026-07-09 23:50 UTCVendor advisory
  37. 2026-07-09 23:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  38. 2026-07-09 19:33 UTCEG score recompute
  39. 2026-07-09 19:33 UTCVendor advisory
  40. 2026-07-09 19:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  41. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-07-09 15:16 UTCEG score recompute
  43. 2026-07-09 15:16 UTCVendor advisory
  44. 2026-07-09 15:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
  45. 2026-07-09 10:59 UTCEG score recompute
  46. 2026-07-09 10:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  47. 2026-07-09 06:42 UTCEG score recompute
  48. 2026-07-09 06:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  49. 2026-07-09 02:26 UTCEG score recompute
  50. 2026-07-09 02:26 UTCVendor advisory
  51. 2026-07-09 02:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  52. 2026-07-08 22:09 UTCEG score recompute
  53. 2026-07-08 22:09 UTCVendor advisory
  54. 2026-07-08 22:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  55. 2026-07-08 17:53 UTCEG score recompute
  56. 2026-07-08 17:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  57. 2026-07-08 15:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-07-08 13:34 UTCEG score recompute
  59. 2026-07-08 13:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  60. 2026-07-08 09:15 UTCEG score recompute
  61. 2026-07-08 09:15 UTCVendor advisory
  62. 2026-07-08 09:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  63. 2026-07-08 04:58 UTCEG score recompute
  64. 2026-07-08 04:58 UTCVendor advisory
  65. 2026-07-08 04:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  66. 2026-07-08 00:41 UTCEG score recompute
  67. 2026-07-08 00:41 UTCVendor advisory
  68. 2026-07-08 00:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  69. 2026-07-07 20:25 UTCEG score recompute
  70. 2026-07-07 20:25 UTCVendor advisory
  71. 2026-07-07 20:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  72. 2026-07-07 19:01 UTCCISA KEV update
  73. 2026-07-07 17:16 UTCCISA KEV update
  74. 2026-07-07 16:08 UTCEG score recompute
  75. 2026-07-07 16:08 UTCGHSA enrichment

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2019-16928?
CVE-2019-16928 is a critical vulnerability published on September 27, 2019. Exim 4.92 through 4.92.2 allows remote code execution, a different vulnerability than CVE-2019-15846. There is a heap-based buffer overflow in string_vformat in string.c involving a long EHLO command.
When was CVE-2019-16928 disclosed?
CVE-2019-16928 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on September 27, 2019, with the most recent update on November 7, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2019-16928 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2019-16928 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on March 3, 2022, affecting Exim Exim Internet Mailer. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate patching attention.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-16928?
CVE-2019-16928 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
Which products are affected by CVE-2019-16928?
CVE-2019-16928 affects Exim Exim Internet Mailer. The full affected-products list, including version ranges and fixed versions, is shown in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2019-16928?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2019-16928, 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.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2019-16928

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