Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-26794

SQLi in Exim 4.98 – 4.98.1

High EPSSSQLi
Published
21 February 2025
Modified
18 December 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.77 99.5th percentile
Risk Priority 83 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-26794 is a high-severity SQL Injection (CWE-89) vulnerability in Exim Exim. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

Exim versions 4.98 before 4.98.1 are affected by a remote SQL injection vulnerability when SQLite hints and ETRN serialization are enabled. The flaw, identified as CVE-2025-26794 and assigned CWE-89, carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5 reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and high availability impact with no confidentiality or integrity effects. A note in the description indicates that fully resolving the injection in certain non-default rate-limit configurations requires an update to 4.99.1.

Remote unauthenticated attackers can supply crafted input over the network to trigger the injection, allowing them to interfere with database operations tied to the affected features and thereby cause denial of service.

Public references including the Exim security advisory and commit history direct administrators to apply the 4.98.1 release for the primary fix, with the 4.99.1 update required only in the specified rate-limit scenarios. The associated EPSS values have stabilized near 0.78, indicating sustained exploitation probability since disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Exim 4.98 before 4.98.1, when SQLite hints and ETRN serialization are used, allows remote SQL injection. (Resolving SQL injection requires an update to 4.99.1 in certain non-default rate-limit configurations.)

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-26034Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-46914Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-44284Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-48722Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-4071Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-49085Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-25314Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-0528Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-8167Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-7142Shared CWE-89

Affected Assets

exim
exim
4.98 — 4.98.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover SQLi flaws before deployment but does not stop their introduction.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from reaching SQL query construction without neutralization.

Secure engineering principles require parameterized queries and input sanitization that structurally eliminate SQLi.

System monitoring can identify attempted SQLi exploitation via anomalous queries after the weakness exists.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly target injection flaws during coding and review so largely prevent CWE-89 introduction, yet the single broad outcome leaves residual risk from incomplete neutralization techniques or missed edge cases.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Training raises developer awareness of SQLi risks and can reduce introduction likelihood (partial) but removes none of the actual coding flaw's risk by itself since technical neutralization is still required.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

The same secure-coding and static-analysis activities surface missing neutralization of SQL metacharacters before the system is accepted.

prevents

Early warnings and shared best-practice information help organizations apply the latest remediation techniques against SQL-injection vulnerabilities.

prevents

Threat-intelligence feeds that surface new SQL-injection campaigns enable rapid updates to query-construction defenses and detection signatures before exploitation occurs.

prevents

Secure-coding rules and security testing phases mandate the use of parameterized queries or equivalent escaping, preventing the construction of dynamic SQL statements from untrusted input.

prevents

Language-specific secure coding rules, peer review and SAST together prevent the construction of SQL statements from untrusted data without proper parameterization or escaping.

References