exim: race condition when MBX locking is enabled
Published Jun 7, 2010
4.4
MEDIUMCVSS 2.0
EPSS 0.28%
Description
transports/appendfile.c in Exim before 4.72, when MBX locking is enabled, allows local users to change permissions of arbitrary files or create arbitrary files, and cause a denial of service or possibly gain privileges, via a symlink attack on a lockfile in /tmp/.
Affected products
No data.
- ≤ 4.71
- 4.10
- 4.20
- 4.21
- 4.22
- 4.23
- 4.24
- 4.30
- 4.31
- 4.32
- 4.33
- 4.34
- 4.40
- 4.41
- 4.42
- 4.43
- 4.44
- 4.50
- 4.51
- 4.52
- 4.53
- 4.54
- 4.60
- 4.61
- 4.62
- 4.63
- 4.64
- 4.65
- 4.66
- 4.67
- 4.68
- 4.69
- 4.70
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
exim
Affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
exim
Affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 | exim | Affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | exim | Affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this issue as having low security impact. While support for the MBX mailbox format is compiled into Exim, it is not used by default. MBX mailboxes are only useful when used with UW-IMAP or the Pine mail client, neither of which are provided with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If the MBX format is used, this issue can be worked around by specifying "use_fcntl_lock" rather than "use_mbx_lock". We therefore have no plans to fix this flaw in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 or 5.
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:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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 1, 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 (10 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 0.28% (0.00280) | 18.47th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 0.28% (0.00280) | 19.49th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.07% (0.00067) | 18.02th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.04% (0.00044) | 11.89th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Jul 2, 2024 | 0.04% (0.00044) | 10.25th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.04% (0.00044) | 8.24th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 1.55% (0.01547) | 74.98th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 23, 2023 | 1.55% (0.01547) | 74.94th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 1.55% (0.01547) | 72.92th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 1.55% (0.01547) | 51.82th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
References (21)
- http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2010-06/0079.html mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISC
- http://bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi?id=989 x_refsource_CONFIRMPatch
- http://lists.exim.org/lurker/message/20100524.175925.9a69f755.en.html mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
- http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-June/042587.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORA
- http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-June/042613.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORA
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-08/msg00001.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSE
- http://secunia.com/advisories/40019 third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAVendor Advisory
- http://secunia.com/advisories/40123 third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIA
- http://secunia.com/advisories/43243 third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIA
- http://vcs.exim.org/viewvc/exim/exim-doc/doc-txt/ChangeLog?view=markup&pathrev=exim-4_72_RC2 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- http://vcs.exim.org/viewvc/exim/exim-src/src/transports/appendfile.c?r1=1.25&r2=1.26 x_refsource_CONFIRMPatch
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/511653/100/0/threaded mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQ
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/40454 vdb-entryx_refsource_BID
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1060-1 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTU
- http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/1402 vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPEN
- http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0364 vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPEN
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2010-2024 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=600097 x_refsource_CONFIRMIssue Tracking
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/59042 vdb-entryx_refsource_XF
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2010-2024
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2010-2024
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.