CVE-2009-1490

Exp

Heap-based buffer overflow in Sendmail before 8.13.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a long X- header, as demonstrated by an X-Testing header.

Published: 2009-05-05 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2009-1490 is rated High Exploit Risk (73.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 12.61%, 96th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +4.83% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2009-1490

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
32995 exploit_db edb 2009-05-27 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2009-1490

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 7.79% 12.61% +4.83%
2 2025-12-28 6.60% 7.79% +1.19%
3 2025-12-27 — 6.60% —

Full EPSS history (23 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2009-1490

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-2009-1490

OS Trackers for CVE-2009-1490

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2009-1490 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-2009-1490
redhat — — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-1490
ubuntu medium CVE-2009-1490 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (sendmail), 5 status rows across 5 suites (dapper, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, upstream): not-affected 4, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2009-1490

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2009-1490

  • Red Hat (2009-05-07T00:00:00)

    Based on our analysis this issue does not have a security consequence and does not lead to a buffer overflow or denial of service. For more details of our technical evaluation see https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=499252#c18

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2009-1490

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
sendmail sendmail <= 8.13.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 2.6 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:2.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 2.6 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:2.6:*:nt:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 2.6.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:2.6.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 2.6.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:2.6.1:*:nt:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 2.6.2 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:2.6.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 3.0 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 3.0 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:3.0:*:nt:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 3.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:3.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 3.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:3.0.1:*:nt:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 3.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:3.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 3.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:3.0.2:*:nt:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 3.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:3.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 4.1 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:4.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 4.55 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:4.55:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 5 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 5.59 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:5.59:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 5.61 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:5.61:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 5.65 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:5.65:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.6.7 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.6.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.7.6 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.7.7 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.7.8 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.7.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.7.9 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.7.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.7.10 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.7.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.8.8 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.9 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.10 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.12.11 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.12.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sendmail sendmail 8.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:sendmail:sendmail:8.13.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2009-1490

cvelogic Threat Intelligence