Vulnerability Report

CVE-2003-0161

Title: Sendmail address parser prescan() function length check bypass

Memory Corruption

Proof Of Concept

PoC Available for CVE-2003-0161

CWE Category NVD-CWE-noinfo

Published Date Apr 02, 2003

Modified Date Jun 16, 2026

Exploit Status Available

Score 10.0 CVSS v2.0

Exploit Probability (EPSS)

38.19%

Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2003-0161: The prescan() function in the address parser (parseaddr.c) in Sendmail before 8.12.9 does not properly handle certain conversions from char and int types, which can cause a length check to be disabled when Sendmail misinterprets an input value as a special "NOCHAR" control value, allowing attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via a buffer overflow attack using messages, a different vulnerability than CVE-2002-1337.

Impacted Vendors

Reference Links

ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/security/OpenLinux/CSSA-2003-016.0.txt ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-03:07.sendmail.asc ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/updates/OpenServer/SCOSA-2004.11/SCOSA-2004.11.txt ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/20030401-01-P http://distro.conectiva.com.br/atualizacoes/?id=a&anuncio=000614 http://lists.apple.com/mhonarc/security-announce/msg00028.html http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2003-March/004295.html http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104896621106790&w=2 http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104897487512238&w=2 http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104914999806315&w=2 http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-52620-1 http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-52700-1 http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-77-1001088.1-1 http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-12.html http://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-278 http://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-290 http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200303-27.xml http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/897604 http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2003-120.html http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2003-121.html http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/316961/30/25250/threaded http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/317135/30/25220/threaded http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/317135/30/25220/threaded http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/321997 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/7230 ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/security/OpenLinux/CSSA-2003-016.0.txt ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-03:07.sendmail.asc ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/updates/OpenServer/SCOSA-2004.11/SCOSA-2004.11.txt ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/20030401-01-P http://distro.conectiva.com.br/atualizacoes/?id=a&anuncio=000614 http://lists.apple.com/mhonarc/security-announce/msg00028.html http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2003-March/004295.html http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104896621106790&w=2 http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104897487512238&w=2 http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104914999806315&w=2 http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-52620-1 http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-52700-1 http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-77-1001088.1-1 http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-12.html http://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-278 http://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-290 http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200303-27.xml http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/897604 http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2003-120.html http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2003-121.html http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/316961/30/25250/threaded http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/317135/30/25220/threaded http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/317135/30/25220/threaded http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/321997 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/7230

CVSS v2.0

Source Entity [email protected]

Severity HIGH

10.0

Access Vector

N/A

Authentication

N/A

RAW VECTOR AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Associated Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

Total: Patterns

CVE-2003-0161 Exploits & PoCs (Proof Of Concept)

Exploit-DB https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/24

View Code

Exploit-DB https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/22442

View Code

June 16, 2026 MODIFIED

Vulnerability data updated via NVD.

April 03, 2025 MODIFIED

Vulnerability data or affected products updated.

April 02, 2003 PUBLISHED

Vulnerability first announced in NVD.

Attack Vector Matrix

Access Vector N/A

Complexity N/A

Privileges N/A

Interaction NONE

CVSS Vector String


                                    AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected Stack

No specific products linked.