CVE-2020-7247

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 2022-03-25), 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
Exploited in the wild
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: 99%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: cisa kev · ssvc active · Metasploit · Exploit-DB (verified) · epss top5pct · epss high · public exploitExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

smtp_mailaddr in smtp_session.c in OpenSMTPD 6.6, as used in OpenBSD 6.6 and other products, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root via a crafted SMTP session, as demonstrated by shell metacharacters in a MAIL FROM field. This affects the "uncommented" default configuration. The issue exists because of an incorrect return value upon failure of input validation.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8CRITICALhigh confidence
EG Risk
99
EG Risk 99/100CISA SSVC

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
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Attend at low mission impact; Act at medium or high.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it sooner than your standard update timelines at low mission impact and as soon as possible at medium or high.
EPSS PROB
99%
EPSS %ILE
99th
KEV
⚠ Exploited

CISA SSVCAttend at low mission impact; Act at medium or high.

A fix is available. Apply it sooner than your standard update timelines at low mission impact and as soon as possible at medium or high.

Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table

Published

January 29, 2020

Last Modified

November 7, 2025

Advisory Details (10)

Auto-updated Oct 9, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: github_commit.
generic

Bugtraq: [SECURITY] [DSA 4611-1] opensmtpd security update

https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/51
github_commit

commit 9dcfda045474 (openbsd/src)

Fix landed in openbsd/src commit 9dcfda045474 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/9dcfda045474d8903224d175907bfc29761dcb45
generic🟡 PoC Available

oss-security - LPE and RCE in OpenSMTPD (CVE-2020-7247)

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/01/28/3
generic🟡 PoC Available

Full Disclosure: LPE and RCE in OpenSMTPD (CVE-2020-7247)

http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Jan/49
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/162093/OpenBSD-OpenSMTPD-6.6-Remote-Code-Execution.html
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156295/OpenSMTPD-6.6.1-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156249/OpenSMTPD-MAIL-FROM-Remote-Code-Execution.html
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156145/OpenSMTPD-6.6.2-Remote-Code-Execution.html
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156137/OpenBSD-OpenSMTPD-Privilege-Escalation-Code-Execution.html
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 32 Update: opensmtpd-6.6.4p1-2.fc32 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/OPH4QU4DNVHA7ACFXMYFCEP5PSXXPN4E/

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFix (by version range) / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuopensmtpd (6.0.3p1-1ubuntu0.1) @ bionic2026-10-10ubuntu
ubuntuopensmtpd (5.7.3p2-1ubuntu0.1~esm2) @ xenial2026-10-10ubuntu

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

(12 across 12 ecosystems)
Alpine:v3.11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-r0: fixed in 6.6.2p1-r0
—
Alpine:v3.12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-r0: fixed in 6.6.2p1-r0
—
Alpine:v3.13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-r0: fixed in 6.6.2p1-r0
—
Alpine:v3.14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-r0: fixed in 6.6.2p1-r0
—
Alpine:v3.15(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-r0: fixed in 6.6.2p1-r0
—
Alpine:v3.16(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-r0: fixed in 6.6.2p1-r0
—
Debian:10(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd6.0.3p1-5, 6.0.3p1-5+deb10u1, 6.0.3p1-5+deb10u2
  • every version up to 6.0.3p1-5+deb10u3: fixed in 6.0.3p1-5+deb10u3
—
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-1: fixed in 6.6.2p1-1
—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-1: fixed in 6.6.2p1-1
—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-1: fixed in 6.6.2p1-1
—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd—
  • every version up to 6.6.2p1-1: fixed in 6.6.2p1-1
—
Debian:9(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
opensmtpd6.0.2p1-2, 6.0.2p1-2+deb9u1
  • every version up to 6.0.2p1-2+deb9u2: fixed in 6.0.2p1-2+deb9u2
—

Weakness Classification(3)

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

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

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 75× in last 7d / 354× 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 1,459 total refreshes for this CVE.

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

Publicly available exploits

(10 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (6 GitHub PoCs) (3 Exploit-DB entries). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-48051✓ verified
    First seen Feb 11, 2020

    OpenSMTPD 6.4.0 < 6.6.1 - Local Privilege Escalation + Remote Code Execution

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-48038✓ verified
    First seen Feb 10, 2020

    OpenSMTPD - MAIL FROM Remote Code Execution (Metasploit)

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-47984✓ verified
    First seen Jan 30, 2020

    OpenSMTPD 6.6.1 - Remote Code Execution

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/unix/smtp/opensmtpd_mail_from_rce✓ verified
    First seen Jan 28, 2020

    OpenSMTPD MAIL FROM Remote Code Execution

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCpresentdaypresenttime/shai_hulud
    First seen Feb 7, 2022

    Worm written in python, abuses CVE-2020-7247

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCSimonSchoeni/CVE-2020-7247-POC
    First seen Nov 26, 2021

    Proof of concept for CVE-2020-7247 for educational purposes.

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCf4T1H21/CVE-2020-7247
    First seen Jun 19, 2021

    PoC exploit for CVE-2020-7247 OpenSMTPD 6.4.0 < 6.6.1 Remote Code Execution

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCQTranspose/CVE-2020-7247-exploit
    First seen Feb 13, 2021

    OpenSMTPD 6.4.0 - 6.6.1 Remote Code Execution PoC exploit

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCr0lh/CVE-2020-7247
    First seen Feb 18, 2020

    Proof Of Concept Exploit for CVE-2020-7247 (Remote Execution on OpenSMTPD < 6.6.2

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCsuperzerosec/cve-2020-7247
    First seen Feb 17, 2020

    OpenSMTPD version 6.6.2 remote code execution exploit

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same product + same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2020-7247?
CVE-2020-7247 is a critical vulnerability published on January 29, 2020. smtpmailaddr in smtpsession.c in OpenSMTPD 6.6, as used in OpenBSD 6.6 and other products, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root via a crafted SMTP session, as demonstrated by shell metacharacters in a MAIL FROM field. This affects the "uncommented" default configuration.…
When was CVE-2020-7247 disclosed?
CVE-2020-7247 was first published on January 29, 2020, 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-2020-7247 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2020-7247 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on March 25, 2022, affecting OpenBSD OpenSMTPD. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate attention. A fix is available. Apply it.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-7247?
CVE-2020-7247 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
Which products are affected by CVE-2020-7247?
CVE-2020-7247 affects OpenBSD OpenSMTPD. The affected packages EchelonGraph has on record, with version ranges, are listed in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2020-7247?
A fix for CVE-2020-7247 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory.

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