CVE-2016-10045

CRITICALEPSS 100th pctl

9.8

CVSS v3

Description

The isMail transport in PHPMailer before 5.2.20 might allow remote attackers to pass extra parameters to the mail command and consequently execute arbitrary code by leveraging improper interaction between the escapeshellarg function and internal escaping performed in the mail function in PHP. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2016-10033.

CWE-77Command Injection

How to fix

Remediation Available

libphp-phpmailerUbuntu

Fixed in:5.2.14+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1~esm1USN-5956-1

Fixed in:5.2.14+dfsg-2.3+deb9u2ubuntu0.1~esm1USN-5956-1

Fixed in:6.0.6-0.1ubuntu0.1~esm1USN-5956-1

Fixed in:6.2.0-2ubuntu0.1~esm1USN-5956-1

TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works

Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorNetwork

Attack ComplexityLow

Privileges RequiredNone

User InteractionNone

ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

98.04%probability of exploitation in 30 days

100thpercentile

Very high risk: more likely to be exploited than 100% of all known CVEs.

References

Patch5

Exploit5

Third-Party Advisory5

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-77 (Command Injection) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVE	Severity	CVSS	EPSS	Exploited	Fix
CVE-2024-3400	Critical	10.0	100%	KEV + Ransom	-
CVE-2024-21887	Critical	9.1	100%	KEV + Ransom	-
CVE-2023-1671	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2023-1389	High	8.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2021-1498	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2012-1823	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix

Common questions

How do I fix CVE-2016-10045?

Upgrade libphp-phpmailer on ubuntu 16.04 to 5.2.14+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1~esm1 or later.

Is CVE-2016-10045 being actively exploited?

Not that we know of. CVE-2016-10045 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 98.0% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 100% of all scored CVEs.

How severe is CVE-2016-10045?

CVE-2016-10045 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8, rated critical. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.

What does CVE-2016-10045 affect?

Published advisories record a fix for libphp-phpmailer (Ubuntu). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.

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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-05-06.