CVE-2026-45185

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-05-12. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: EPSS, GitHub Security Advisory, NVD CVSS v3
Trending — 4 sources updated this weekElevated

Also known asEUVD-2026-29824 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD

9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixRemediate within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high (the SSVC decision on this page).
  • Public exploit or proof-of-concept code is available
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 1.3%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: Public PoCExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

Exim before 4.99.3, in certain GnuTLS configurations, has a remotely reachable use-after-free in the BDAT body parsing path. It is triggered when a client sends a TLS close_notify mid-body during a CHUNKING transfer, followed by a final cleartext byte on the same TCP connection. This can lead to heap corruption. An unauthenticated network attacker exploiting this vulnerability could execute arbitrary code.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8CRITICALmedium confidence
EG Risk
75
EG Risk 75/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity98% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 9.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation40% × 40%
EchelonGraph's fixed weight for EG-KEV Tier 3 (Elevated): a constant, not a probability.
Automatability100% × 15%
CISA's SSVC Automatable value: yes (Vulnrichment).
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
EPSS PROB
1.3%
EPSS %ILE
69th
KEV
Not listed

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (9.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.

EG Severity
9.8 CRITICALCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
EG Likelihood
1.3% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-29). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 3 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 60 days if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).

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

Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)3 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 60 days if it is not.

In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

Published

May 12, 2026

Last Modified

May 28, 2026

Advisory Details (7)

Auto-updated Oct 8, 2026
Patch available.
Web page

oss-security - Re: [EXIM-Security-2026-05-01.1] Security Release 4.99.3

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/12/25
Web page

Dead.Letter - How XBOW found an unauthenticated RCE on Exim | XBOW

https://xbow.com/blog/dead-letter-cve-2026-45185-xbow-found-rce-exim
Web page

oss-security - [EXIM-Security-2026-05-01.1] Security Release 4.99.3

https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/12/4
Web page

Dead.Letter (CVE-2026-45185) – How XBOW found an unauthenticated RCE on Exim | Hacker News

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48111748
Web page

Index of /static/doc/security/EXIM-Security-2026-05-01.1/

https://exim.org/static/doc/security/EXIM-Security-2026-05-01.1/
Web page

Exim Internet Mailer

https://exim.org
Web page

EximSecurity - exim/wiki - Exim Forgejo

https://code.exim.org/exim/wiki/wiki/EximSecurity

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFix (by version range) / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntueximon4 (4.82-3ubuntu2.4+esm9) @ trusty2026-10-30ubuntu

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

(4 across 4 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
exim44.94.2-7, 4.94.2-7+deb11u1, 4.94.2-7+deb11u2, 4.94.2-7+deb11u3, 4.94.2-7+deb11u4
  • every version up to 4.94.2-7+deb11u5: fixed in 4.94.2-7+deb11u5
—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
exim44.96-15 ... 4.96-15+deb12u8 (9 versions)
  • every version up to 4.96-15+deb12u9: fixed in 4.96-15+deb12u9
—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
exim44.98.2-1, 4.98.2-1+deb13u1
  • every version up to 4.98.2-1+deb13u2: fixed in 4.98.2-1+deb13u2
—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
exim44.98.2-1 ... 4.99~RC3-2 (27 versions)
  • every version up to 4.99.2-2: fixed in 4.99.2-2
—

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 28× in last 7d / 82× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. 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. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 539 refreshes on record for this CVE.

A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 439 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.

  1. 2026-10-30 10:03 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-10-30 10:03 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-10-30 10:03 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  4. 2026-10-29 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 69th percentile
  5. 2026-10-29 08:52 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-10-29 08:51 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  7. 2026-10-28 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 69th percentile
  8. 2026-10-28 07:35 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-10-28 07:35 UTCVendor advisory
  10. 2026-10-28 07:35 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  11. 2026-10-27 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 69th percentile
  12. 2026-10-27 06:24 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-10-27 06:24 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-10-27 06:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  15. 2026-10-26 16:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 69th percentile
  16. 2026-10-26 01:15 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-10-26 01:15 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-10-26 01:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  19. 2026-10-25 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.3% · 69th percentile
  20. 2026-10-25 14:27 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-10-25 00:04 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-10-25 00:04 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-10-25 00:04 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  24. 2026-10-24 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  25. 2026-10-23 22:52 UTCEG score recompute
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-10-23 22:52 UTCVendor advisory
  2. 2026-10-23 22:52 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  3. 2026-10-23 16:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  4. 2026-10-22 21:35 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-10-22 21:35 UTCVendor advisory
  6. 2026-10-22 21:35 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  7. 2026-10-22 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  8. 2026-10-21 20:18 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-10-21 20:18 UTCVendor advisory
  10. 2026-10-21 20:18 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  11. 2026-10-21 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  12. 2026-10-20 19:06 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-10-20 19:06 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-10-20 19:06 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  15. 2026-10-20 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  16. 2026-10-19 17:53 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-10-19 17:53 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-10-19 17:52 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  19. 2026-10-19 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  20. 2026-10-18 16:40 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-10-18 16:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  22. 2026-10-18 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  23. 2026-10-18 03:38 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-10-17 20:21 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-10-17 20:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  26. 2026-10-17 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  27. 2026-10-16 19:07 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-10-16 19:07 UTCVendor advisory
  29. 2026-10-16 19:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  30. 2026-10-16 16:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  31. 2026-10-15 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  32. 2026-10-15 16:20 UTCEG score recompute
  33. 2026-10-15 16:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  34. 2026-10-14 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  35. 2026-10-14 10:31 UTCEG score recompute
  36. 2026-10-14 10:31 UTCVendor advisory
  37. 2026-10-14 10:30 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  38. 2026-10-13 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 60th percentile
  39. 2026-10-13 09:00 UTCEG score recompute
  40. 2026-10-13 08:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  41. 2026-10-12 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  42. 2026-10-12 16:04 UTCEG score recompute
  43. 2026-10-12 07:47 UTCVendor advisory
  44. 2026-10-12 07:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-fhg4-whcv-f8v4 · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  45. 2026-10-11 19:46 UTCEG score recompute
  46. 2026-10-11 17:01 UTCEG score recompute
  47. 2026-10-11 14:26 UTCEG score recompute
  48. 2026-10-11 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  49. 2026-10-10 20:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  50. 2026-10-09 20:07 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  51. 2026-10-08 17:12 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  52. 2026-10-07 23:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  53. 2026-10-06 15:18 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  54. 2026-10-05 17:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  55. 2026-10-04 23:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  56. 2026-10-03 14:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  57. 2026-10-01 19:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  58. 2026-09-30 15:03 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  59. 2026-09-27 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  60. 2026-09-26 15:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.9% · 59th percentile
  61. 2026-09-23 17:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  62. 2026-09-20 20:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  63. 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  64. 2026-09-17 19:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  65. 2026-09-16 14:08 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  66. 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  67. 2026-09-13 16:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  68. 2026-09-12 15:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  69. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  70. 2026-09-11 09:37 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  71. 2026-09-10 09:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 67th percentile
  72. 2026-09-08 22:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 66th percentile
  73. 2026-09-07 16:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 66th percentile
  74. 2026-09-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 66th percentile
  75. 2026-09-04 05:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 1.2% · 66th percentile

Publicly available exploits

(2 references)

Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 GitHub PoC), as is 1 GitHub checker repository. A GitHub repository named or described as a checker or scanner checks whether a system is affected; it is not necessarily exploit code. Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.

  • GitHub PoCMJ-bin/POC_CVE-2026-45185
    Published May 19, 2026

    POC_CVE-2026-45185 for nuclei-templates

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub checkerliamromanis101/Dead.Letter-CVE-2026-45185
    Published May 12, 2026

    Dead.Letter CVE-2026-45185 EXIM Vulnerability Detection Script

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-45185?
CVE-2026-45185 is a critical-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on May 12, 2026. Exim before 4.99.3, in certain GnuTLS configurations, has a remotely reachable use-after-free in the BDAT body parsing path. It is triggered when a client sends a TLS close_notify mid-body during a CHUNKING transfer, followed by a final cleartext byte on the same TCP connection. This can lead to…
When was the CVE record for CVE-2026-45185 published?
The CVE record for CVE-2026-45185 was published on May 12, 2026. That is the record's publication date; the vulnerability itself may have been made public earlier. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of May 28, 2026; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2026-45185 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-45185 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 1.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (69th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-45185?
CVE-2026-45185 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-45185?
A fix for CVE-2026-45185 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2026-45185

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2026-45185?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.