CVE-2002-0985

Argument injection vulnerability in the mail function for PHP 4.x to 4.2.2 may allow attackers to bypass safe mode restrictions and modify command line arguments to the MTA (e.g. sendmail) in the 5th argument to mail(), altering MTA behavior and possibly executing commands.

Published: 2002-09-24 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2002-0985 is rated Moderate Risk (61.6/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.95%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +1.72% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2002-0985

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 1.23% 2.95% +1.72%
2 2025-12-28 0.78% 1.23% +0.44%
3 2025-12-27 0.78%

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2002-0985

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2002-0985

OS Trackers for CVE-2002-0985

vendor priority summary link
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2002-0985

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2002-0985

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
php php >= 4.0, <= 4.2.2 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openpkg openpkg 1.1 cpe:2.3:a:openpkg:openpkg:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openpkg openpkg 1.2 cpe:2.3:a:openpkg:openpkg:1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2002-0985

URL Tags
ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/security/OpenLinux/CSSA-2003-008.0.txt Broken Link
http://distro.conectiva.com.br/atualizacoes/?id=a&anuncio=000545 Broken Link
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=103011916928204&w=2 Third Party Advisory
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=105760591228031&w=2 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-168 Broken Link Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2003:082 Broken Link
http://www.novell.com/linux/security/advisories/2002_036_modphp4.html Broken Link
http://www.osvdb.org/2111 Broken Link
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2002-213.html Broken Link Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2002-214.html Broken Link
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2002-243.html Broken Link
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2002-244.html Broken Link
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2002-248.html Broken Link
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2003-159.html Broken Link
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/9966 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
cvelogic Threat Intelligence