sendmail: long first header can overflow into message body
Published May 5, 2009
5.0
MEDIUMCVSS 2.0
EPSS 12.61%
Description
Heap-based buffer overflow in Sendmail before 8.13.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a long X- header, as demonstrated by an X-Testing header.
Affected products
No data.
- ≤ 8.13.1.2
- 2.6
- 2.6
- 2.6.1
- 2.6.1
- 2.6.2
- 3.0
- 3.0
- 3.0.1
- 3.0.1
- 3.0.2
- 3.0.2
- 3.0.3
- 4.1
- 4.55
- 5
- 5.59
- 5.61
- 5.65
- 8.6.7
- 8.7.6
- 8.7.7
- 8.7.8
- 8.7.9
- 8.7.10
- 8.8.8
- 8.9.0
- 8.9.1
- 8.9.2
- 8.9.3
- 8.10
- 8.10.0
- 8.10.1
- 8.10.2
- 8.11.0
- 8.11.1
- 8.11.2
- 8.11.3
- 8.11.4
- 8.11.5
- 8.11.6
- 8.11.7
- 8.12
- 8.12
- 8.12
- 8.12
- 8.12
- 8.12.0
- 8.12.1
- 8.12.2
- 8.12.3
- 8.12.4
- 8.12.5
- 8.12.6
- 8.12.7
- 8.12.8
- 8.12.9
- 8.12.10
- 8.12.11
- 8.13.0
No data.
No Red Hat product state for this CVE.
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
Based on our analysis this issue does not have a security consequence and does not lead to a buffer overflow or denial of service. For more details of our technical evaluation see https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=499252#c18
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.0 score for this CVE.
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 3, 2026.
Score over time
2022–2026- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (25 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 | 12.61% (0.12614) | 96.14th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 12.61% (0.12614) | 95.72th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Dec 28, 2025 | 7.79% (0.07785) | 91.66th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 27, 2025 | 6.60% (0.06599) | 90.90th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Oct 28, 2025 | 7.79% (0.07785) | 91.55th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Oct 27, 2025 | 6.60% (0.06599) | 90.77th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Oct 1, 2025 | 7.79% (0.07785) | 91.65th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Aug 20, 2025 | 6.60% (0.06599) | 90.78th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Jul 30, 2025 | 19.84% (0.19842) | 95.20th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 30, 2025 | 18.34% (0.18335) | 94.70th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 29, 2025 | 24.82% (0.24817) | 93.78th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 19, 2025 | 18.34% (0.18335) | 94.47th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 21.67% (0.21667) | 95.26th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 17, 2024 | 5.76% (0.05762) | 93.27th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Oct 8, 2024 | 8.77% (0.08765) | 94.67th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Sep 1, 2024 | 10.12% (0.10123) | 95.04th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Dec 14, 2023 | 6.46% (0.06458) | 92.96th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Sep 22, 2023 | 8.86% (0.08862) | 93.82th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Aug 8, 2023 | 6.81% (0.06806) | 92.95th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| May 8, 2023 | 8.76% (0.08764) | 93.55th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 24, 2023 | 9.38% (0.09381) | 93.70th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 9.93% (0.09935) | 93.88th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 6.21% (0.06211) | 90.72th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 6.21% (0.06211) | 89.86th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 6.21% (0.06211) | 77.71th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
References (7)
- http://www.nmrc.org/~thegnome/blog/apr09/ x_refsource_MISC
- http://www.sendmail.org/releases/8.13.2 x_refsource_CONFIRMPatchVendor Advisory
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-1490 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=499252 Issue Tracking
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/50355 vdb-entryx_refsource_XF
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-1490
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-1490
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| http://www.nmrc.org/~thegnome/blog/apr09/ | x_refsource_MISC | |
| http://www.sendmail.org/releases/8.13.2 | x_refsource_CONFIRMPatchVendor Advisory | |
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-1490 | Vendor Advisory | |
| https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=499252 | Issue Tracking | |
| https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/50355 | vdb-entryx_refsource_XF | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-1490 | ||
| https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-1490 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.