CVE-2020-28007 Path traversal in n/a

High 7.8 Published 6 May 2021 Updated 4 Aug 2024

Exim mail server allows privilege escalation via symlink attacks in the log directory, enabling attackers to overwrite root-owned files.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2020-28007?

CVE-2020-28007 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Exim Exim, published on 6 May 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows Execution with Unnecessary Privileges. Because Exim operates as root in the log directory (owned by a non-root user), a symlink or hard link attack allows overwriting critical root-owned files anywhere on the filesystem.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-28007?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Exim Exim.

How do I fix CVE-2020-28007?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2020-28007 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-28007 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Exim Exim vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as CLEANSTART-2025-VX14603, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-28007, GHSA-x5m4-62f7-c437, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-28007.