CVE-2021-32749

Possible RCE vulnerability in mailing action using mailutils (mail-whois)

HIGH
8.1
CVSS Score
Published: July 16, 2021 at 12:00 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 03:53 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsFedoraFAIL2BAN

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Severity
HIGH8.1
Exploit prediction
EPSS 3%

Description

fail2ban is a daemon to ban hosts that cause multiple authentication errors. In versions 0.9.7 and prior, 0.10.0 through 0.10.6, and 0.11.0 through 0.11.2, there is a vulnerability that leads to possible remote code execution in the mailing action mail-whois. Command `mail` from mailutils package used in mail actions like `mail-whois` can execute command if unescaped sequences (`\n~`) are available in "foreign" input (for instance in whois output). To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would need to insert malicious characters into the response sent by the whois server, either via a MITM attack or by taking over a whois server. The issue is patched in versions 0.10.7 and 0.11.3. As a workaround, one may avoid the usage of action `mail-whois` or patch the vulnerability manually.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v ≤ 0.10.6v ≤ 0.11.2v ≤ 0.9.70.10.0 ≤ v < 0.10.70.11.0 ≤ v < 0.11.3<= 0.9.7
Affected range stops below 0.10.7, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 0.11.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-78CWE-94

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