In Exim before 4.99.2, on systems using musl libc (not glibc), an attacker can crash the connection instance when malformed DNS data is present in PTR records
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium.
Data as of 27 Oct 2026, 00:07 UTC
- Affects
- Exim before 4.99.2
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 30 Apr 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.
Description
In Exim before 4.99.2, on systems using musl libc (not glibc), an attacker can crash the connection instance when malformed DNS data is present in PTR records. This is caused by a dn_expand oddity in octal printing.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-40684 (opens in a new tab)
- code.exim.org/exim/exim/commit/628bbaca7672748d941a12e7cd5f0122a4e18c81 (opens in a new tab)
- exim.org/static/doc/security/CVE-2025-40684.txt (opens in a new tab)
- exim.org/static/doc/security/CVE-2026-40684.txt (opens in a new tab)
- exim.org/static/doc/security/cve-2026-04.1/CVE2026-40684.assessment (opens in a new tab)
- openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/30/21 (opens in a new tab)
- openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/01/11 (opens in a new tab)