CVE-2003-0688

The DNS map code in Sendmail 8.12.8 and earlier, when using the "enhdnsbl" feature, does not properly initialize certain data structures, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (process crash) via an invalid DNS response that causes Sendmail to free incorrect data.

Published: 2003-10-20 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2003-0688 is rated Moderate Risk (48.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.71%). 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-2003-0688

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 2025-05-08 1.62% 1.71% +0.09%
2 2025-03-30 2.36% 1.62% -0.74%
3 2025-03-29 — 2.36% —

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2003-0688

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2003-0688

OS Trackers for CVE-2003-0688

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2003-0688 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-2003-0688
redhat — — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2003-0688

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2003-0688

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
redhat sendmail 8.12.5-7 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:sendmail:8.12.5-7:*:i386:*:*:*:*:*
redhat sendmail 8.12.5-7 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:sendmail:8.12.5-7:*:i386_cf:*:*:*:*:*
redhat sendmail 8.12.5-7 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:sendmail:8.12.5-7:*:i386_dev:*:*:*:*:*
redhat sendmail 8.12.5-7 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:sendmail:8.12.5-7:*:i386_doc:*:*:*:*:*
redhat sendmail 8.12.8-4 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:sendmail:8.12.8-4:*:i386:*:*:*:*:*
redhat sendmail 8.12.8-4 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:sendmail:8.12.8-4:*:i386_cf:*:*:*:*:*
redhat sendmail 8.12.8-4 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:sendmail:8.12.8-4:*:i386_dev:*:*:*:*:*
redhat sendmail 8.12.8-4 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:sendmail:8.12.8-4:*:i386_doc:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.7 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.8 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sgi irix 6.5.19 cpe:2.3:o:sgi:irix:6.5.19:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sgi irix 6.5.20 cpe:2.3:o:sgi:irix:6.5.20:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sgi irix 6.5.21 cpe:2.3:o:sgi:irix:6.5.21:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
compaq tru64 5.0a cpe:2.3:o:compaq:tru64:5.0a:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
compaq tru64 5.1 cpe:2.3:o:compaq:tru64:5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
freebsd freebsd 4.6 cpe:2.3:o:freebsd:freebsd:4.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
freebsd freebsd 4.7 cpe:2.3:o:freebsd:freebsd:4.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
freebsd freebsd 4.8 cpe:2.3:o:freebsd:freebsd:4.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
freebsd freebsd 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:freebsd:freebsd:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openbsd openbsd 3.2 cpe:2.3:o:openbsd:openbsd:3.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2003-0688

cvelogic Threat Intelligence