# CVE-2022-37451: Use after free in n/a

> An invalid free in Exim's PAM authentication allows attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially execute arbitrary code.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 Aug 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** CLSA-2022-1661445415, CLSA-2022-1661445629, DEBIAN-CVE-2022-37451, GHSA-968g-c3p8-6hvf

## What is CVE-2022-37451?

CVE-2022-37451 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Exim Exim, published on 6 Aug 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Exim before 4.96 has an invalid free in pam_converse in auths/call_pam.c because store_free is not used after store_malloc.

Weakness: CWE-763 (Release of Invalid Pointer or Reference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-37451?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Exim Exim, Fedoraproject Fedora.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-37451?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2022-37451 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-37451 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Exim Exim

- [CVE-2026-45185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45185/): Use after free in Exim (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-42115](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-42115/): Exim AUTH Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-28017](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-28017/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-28018](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-28018/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-28020](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-28020/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-37451 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-37451 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Exim Exim, published on 6 Aug 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-37451 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Exim Exim. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-37451/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-37451/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-37451
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-37451
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-37451

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-37451/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.