CVE-2005-2878

Exp

Format string vulnerability in search.c in the imap4d server in GNU Mailutils 0.6 allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary code via format string specifiers in the SEARCH command.

Published: 2005-09-13 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2005-2878 is rated High Exploit Risk (75.1/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 57.14%, 98th percentile). 4 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2005-2878

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
3787 exploit_db edb 2007-04-24 Exploit-DB ↗
1234 exploit_db edb 2005-09-26 Exploit-DB ↗
1209 exploit_db edb 2005-09-10 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2005-2878

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 61.37% 57.14% -4.23%
2 2025-03-29 57.14% 61.37% +4.23%
3 2025-03-19 — 57.14% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2005-2878

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-2005-2878

OS Trackers for CVE-2005-2878

vendor priority summary link
debian high CVE-2005-2878 high priority: Debian including 1 source packages (mailutils), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2005-2878
gentoo high CVE-2005-2878: 1 GLSA(s) (200509-10), 1 atom(s) (net-mail/mailutils); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2005-2878
ubuntu medium CVE-2005-2878 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (mailutils), 4 status rows across 4 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, upstream): released 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2005-2878

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2005-2878

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu mailutils 0.6 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:mailutils:0.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2005-2878

cvelogic Threat Intelligence