SMTP Injection in PHPMailer
Impact
Attackers could inject arbitrary SMTP commands via by exploiting the fact that valid email addresses may contain line breaks, which are not handled correctly in some contexts.
Patches
Fixed in 5.2.14 in this commit.
Workarounds
Manually strip line breaks from email addresses before passing them to PHPMailer.
References
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8476
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open a private issue in the PHPMailer project
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composer package | phpmailer/phpmailer | >= 5.0.0, < 5.2.14 | 5.2.14 |
References
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/security/advisories/GHSA-738m-f33v-qc2r
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8476
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/commit/6687a96a18b8f12148881e4ddde795ae477284b0
- https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/phpmailer/phpmailer/CVE-2015-8476.yaml
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v5.2.14
- http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2016-February/177130.html
- http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2016-February/177139.html
- http://www.debian.org/security/2015/dsa-3416
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/12/04/5
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/12/05/1
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/78619
- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-20- Platform
- Composer
- Package
phpmailer/phpmailer- Disclosed
- 05.03.2020
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-738m-f33v-qc2r - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: phpmailer/phpmailer
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Composer package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 13
- First → latest
- 12.2016 02.2024
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 2
- High 7
- Medium 3
- Low 1
Disclosures per year
- 2017: 0
- 2018: 0
- 2019: 0
- 2020: 5
- 2021: 3
- 2022: 2
- 2023: 0
- 2024: 2
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 0
earlier: 1
-
SMTP Injection in PHPMailer this entry
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