CVE-2003-0140

Buffer overflow in Mutt 1.4.0 and possibly earlier versions, 1.5.x up to 1.5.3, and other programs that use Mutt code such as Balsa before 2.0.10, allows a remote malicious IMAP server to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted folder.

Published: 2003-03-24 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2003-0140 is rated Moderate Risk (63.9/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 4.49%, 90th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +2.31% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2003-0140

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 2.18% 4.49% +2.31%
2 2025-12-02 1.90% 2.18% +0.29%
3 2025-03-30 1.90%

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2003-0140

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-2003-0140

OS Trackers for CVE-2003-0140

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2003-0140 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (mutt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2003-0140
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2003-0140

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2003-0140

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mutt mutt 1.3.12 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.3.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mutt mutt 1.3.16 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.3.16:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mutt mutt 1.3.17 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.3.17:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mutt mutt 1.3.22 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.3.22:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mutt mutt 1.3.24 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.3.24:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mutt mutt 1.3.25 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.3.25:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mutt mutt 1.3.27 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.3.27:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mutt mutt 1.4.0 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mutt mutt 1.5.3 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:1.5.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2003-0140

URL Tags
http://distro.conectiva.com.br/atualizacoes/?id=a&anuncio=000626
http://distro.conectiva.com.br/atualizacoes/?id=a&anuncio=000630
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104817995421439&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104818814931378&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104852190605988&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=105171507629573&w=2
http://www.coresecurity.com/common/showdoc.php?idx=310&idxseccion=10
http://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-268
http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200303-19.xml
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2003:041
http://www.novell.com/linux/security/advisories/2003_020_mutt.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2003-109.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/315679 Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/7120 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/11583
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A2
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A434
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