sendmail: Properly set the close-on-exec flag for file descriptors
Published Jun 4, 2014
1.9
LOWCVSS 2.0
EPSS 0.64%
Description
The sm_close_on_exec function in conf.c in sendmail before 8.14.9 has arguments in the wrong order, and consequently skips setting expected FD_CLOEXEC flags, which allows local users to access unintended high-numbered file descriptors via a custom mail-delivery program.
Affected products
No data.
Configuration 3
- 20
Configuration 4
- ≤ 8.14.8
- 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
- 8.12.0
- 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
- 8.13.1
- 8.13.2
- 8.13.3
- 8.13.4
- 8.13.5
- 8.13.6
- 8.13.7
- 8.13.8
- 8.14.0
- 8.14.1
- 8.14.2
- 8.14.3
- 8.14.4
- 8.14.5
- 8.14.6
- 8.14.7
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
sendmail
Affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
sendmail
Affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
sendmail
Affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
sendmail
Affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 | sendmail | Affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | sendmail | Affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | sendmail | Affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | sendmail | Affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
This issue affects the versions of sendmail as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, 5, 6, and 7. Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having Low security impact. This issue is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates. For additional information, refer to the Issue Severity Classification: https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/.
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:N/A:N
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 | 0.64% (0.00635) | 48.52th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 0.63% (0.00630) | 45.21th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.10% (0.00100) | 25.43th | 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)
- ftp://ftp.sendmail.org/pub/sendmail/RELEASE_NOTES x_refsource_CONFIRMVendor Advisory
- http://advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2014-0270.html x_refsource_CONFIRMThird Party Advisory
- http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2014-June/134349.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAThird Party Advisory
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2014-06/msg00032.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSE
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2014-06/msg00033.html vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSE
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/126975/Slackware-Security-Advisory-sendmail-Updates.html x_refsource_MISCThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://secunia.com/advisories/57455 third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIA
- http://secunia.com/advisories/58628 third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIA
- http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201412-32.xml vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOO
- http://www.freebsd.org/security/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-14%3A11.sendmail.asc vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FREEBSD
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2014:147 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MANDRIVA
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2015:128 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MANDRIVA
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/67791 vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1030331 vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://www.sendmail.com/sm/open_source/download/8.14.9/ x_refsource_CONFIRMPatchVendor Advisory
- http://www.slackware.com/security/viewer.php?l=slackware-security&y=2014&m=slackware-security.728644 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SLACKWARE
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2014-3956 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1102174 Issue Tracking
- https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/kb/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c05216368 x_refsource_CONFIRMThird Party Advisory
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-3956
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-3956
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.