CVE-2002-2261

Sendmail 8.9.0 through 8.12.6 allows remote attackers to bypass relaying restrictions enforced by the 'check_relay' function by spoofing a blank DNS hostname.

Published: 2002-12-31 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2002-2261 is rated Moderate Risk (53.5/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.56%). 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-2002-2261

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 2025-12-28 0.74% 0.56% -0.18%
2 2025-12-27 0.56% 0.74% +0.18%
3 2025-11-12 — 0.56% —

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2002-2261

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-2002-2261

OS Trackers for CVE-2002-2261

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2002-2261 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (sendmail), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2002-2261

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2002-2261

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
sendmail sendmail 8.9.0 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.9.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.9.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.9.2 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.9.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.9.3 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.9.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.10 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.10.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.10.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.10.2 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.10.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.11.0 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.11.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.11.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.11.2 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.11.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.11.3 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.11.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.11.4 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.11.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.11.5 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.11.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.11.6 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.11.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.11.7 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.11.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12:beta10:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12:beta12:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12:beta16:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12:beta5:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12:beta7:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.0 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.2 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.3 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.4 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.5 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.6 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2002-2261

cvelogic Threat Intelligence