CVE-2018-14357

An issue was discovered in Mutt before 1.10.1 and NeoMutt before 2018-07-16. They allow remote IMAP servers to execute arbitrary commands via backquote characters, related to the mailboxes command associated with an automatic subscription.

Published: 2018-07-17 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2018-14357 is rated High Risk (69.3/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.53%). 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-2018-14357

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 2026-05-15 2.35% 2.53% +0.18%
2 2026-02-24 2.93% 2.35% -0.58%
3 2026-02-23 2.93%

Full EPSS history (32 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-14357

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 5.9 [email protected]
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-2018-14357

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-14357

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-14357 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (mutt, neomutt), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-14357
gentoo normal CVE-2018-14357: 1 GLSA(s) (201810-07), 2 atom(s) (mail-client/neomutt, net-client/mutt); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-14357
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-14357
suse high CVE-2018-14357 severity important: SUSE including 24 source package names (mutt-1.10.1-3.3.4, mutt-1.10.1-55.6.1, …), 64 product×package rows across 37 product lines (Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-SAP-BYOS, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-SAP-On-Demand, … (37 product lines)): Fixed 64. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-14357/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-14357 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (mutt, neomutt), 36 status rows across 18 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 19, not-affected 12, DNE 3, ignored 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-14357

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-14357

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mutt mutt < 1.10.1 cpe:2.3:a:mutt:mutt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
neomutt neomutt < 20180716 cpe:2.3:a:neomutt:neomutt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.5 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-14357

cvelogic Threat Intelligence