CVE-2016-10033

Exploitation

Exploited in the wild. Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2025-07-07. Federal remediation due 2025-07-28.

SSVC decision

• ExploitationactiveCISA reports credible evidence of active exploitation.
• AutomatableyesAn attacker can reliably automate reconnaissance through exploitation, so this scales.
• Technical ImpacttotalSuccessful exploitation gives total control of the vulnerable component.

CISA publishes the decision points, not a final SSVC decision. The decision also depends on mission and well-being impact, which is a property of your deployment rather than of the vulnerability.

EPSS probability

99.71% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.

EPSS percentile

Ranks above 100.0% of scored records. A rank, not a probability.

NVD base score

9.8 (CVSS v3.x), scored by the NVD independently of the CNA.

NVD CVSS vector

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

NVD analysis status

Analyzed. NVD last modified this record on 2026-06-17.

Red Hat severity

No Red Hat rating. Red Hat rates the CVEs that affect its products.

Exploit-prediction scores from FIRST. Independent scoring and analysis status from the NVD. Vendor severity from Red Hat. Exploitation assessment and catalog membership from CISA.

Published

2016-12-30 19:00Z9 YR AGO

Last updated

2025-10-21 23:55Z10 MO AGO

Reserved

2016-12-22

Assigning CNA

mitre

Record state

PUBLISHED

Severity

Critical (CVSS 9.8)

CNA CVSS vector

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

Weaknesses

• CWE-88Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection')Base

Data version

5.1

Document digest

0b92dd46c8ffd3edcb67d3400db6b9ded321faac0ff898cc6c5f2cb8a17136e8

• packetstormsecurity.comhttp://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140350/PHPMailer-Sendmail-Argument-Injection.htmlx_refsource_MISC
• www.drupal.orghttps://www.drupal.org/psa-2016-004x_refsource_CONFIRM
• www.exploit-db.com42221https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42221/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.exploit-db.com40969https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40969/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.exploit-db.com41962https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41962/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.exploit-db.com40968https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40968/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• legalhackers.comhttps://legalhackers.com/advisories/PHPMailer-Exploit-Remote-Code-Exec-CVE-2016-10033-Vuln.htmlx_refsource_MISC
• github.comhttps://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v5.2.18x_refsource_CONFIRM
• www.securityfocus.com20161227 PHPMailer < 5.2.18 Remote Code Execution [updated advisory] [CVE-2016-10033]http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539963/100/0/threadedmailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQ
• github.comhttps://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/About-the-CVE-2016-10033-and-CVE-2016-10045-vulnerabilitiesx_refsource_CONFIRM
• packetstormsecurity.comhttp://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140291/PHPMailer-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlx_refsource_MISC
• www.exploit-db.com40974https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40974/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.exploit-db.com40986https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40986/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.exploit-db.com40970https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40970/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.rapid7.comhttp://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/multi/http/phpmailer_arg_injectionx_refsource_MISC
• www.exploit-db.com41996https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41996/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• seclists.org20161227 PHPMailer < 5.2.18 Remote Code Execution [CVE-2016-10033]http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Dec/78mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISC
• www.securityfocus.com95108http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95108vdb-entryx_refsource_BID
• www.securitytracker.com1037533http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037533vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACK
• developer.joomla.orghttps://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/668-20161205-phpmailer-security-advisory.htmlx_refsource_CONFIRM
• www.exploit-db.com42024https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42024/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.cisa.govhttps://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2016-10033government-resource