CVE-2003-1557

Off-by-one buffer overflow in spamc of SpamAssassin 2.40 through 2.43, when using BSMTP mode ("-B"), allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via email containing headers with leading "." characters.

Published: 2003-12-31 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2003-1557 is rated Moderate Risk (61.3/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 10.94%, 93th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. 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-2003-1557

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 2025-03-30 12.48% 10.94% -1.55%
2 2025-03-29 10.94% 12.48% +1.55%
3 2025-03-17 — 10.94% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2003-1557

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.6 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 4.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2003-1557

OS Trackers for CVE-2003-1557

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2003-1557 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (spamassassin), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2003-1557
redhat — — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2003-1557

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2003-1557

  • Red Hat (2008-04-04T00:00:00)

    Not vulnerable. This issue did not affect the versions of SpamAssassin as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, or 5.

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2003-1557

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
spamassassin spamassassin 2.40 cpe:2.3:a:spamassassin:spamassassin:2.40:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
spamassassin spamassassin 2.41 cpe:2.3:a:spamassassin:spamassassin:2.41:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
spamassassin spamassassin 2.42 cpe:2.3:a:spamassassin:spamassassin:2.42:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
spamassassin spamassassin 2.43 cpe:2.3:a:spamassassin:spamassassin:2.43:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2003-1557

cvelogic Threat Intelligence