Threats / PHP / CVE-2016-10033
CVE-2016-10033
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
PHP PHPMailer vulnerability
PHPMailer fails to sanitize user input in the mail() function, allowing command injection attacks that can execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A remote attacker can inject shell commands through unsanitized parameters passed to PHPMailer's mail() function, achieving arbitrary code execution in the application context. Exploitation is straightforward and actively occurring in the wild.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
4 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2025-07-07).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.99714 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: PHP, PHPMailer. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-77 Command Injection, CWE-88 Argument Injection — weakness family: Injection.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft malicious input containing shell metacharacters and pass it to PHPMailer parameters.
Business
Attacker gains code execution within the web application process, potentially compromising server integrity and data.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I execute system commands to establish persistence, exfiltrate data, or pivot to internal systems.
Business
Breach scope expands beyond the application to underlying infrastructure and connected systems.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I send repeated malformed requests to trigger denial-of-service conditions if exploitation fails.
Business
Service availability is degraded, impacting customer access and revenue.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05