CVE-2015-8476
SMTP Injection in PHPMailer
Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in PHPMailer before 5.2.14 allow attackers to inject arbitrary SMTP commands via CRLF sequences in an (1) email address to the validateAddress function in class.phpmailer.php or (2) SMTP command to the sendCommand function in class.smtp.php, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0796.
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
5.0
Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in PHPMailer before 5.2.14 allow attackers to inject arbitrary SMTP commands via CRLF sequences in an (1) email address to the validateAddress function in class.phpmailer.php or (2) SMTP command to the sendCommand function in class.smtp.php, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0796.
- Record
CVE-2015-8476- CVSS 2.0
- 5.0 Medium
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in PHPMailer before 5.2.14 allow attackers to inject arbitrary SMTP commands via CRLF sequences in an (1) email address to the validateAddress function in class.phpmailer.php or (2) SMTP command to the sendCommand function in class.smtp.php, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0796.
- Record
CVE-2015-8476- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-0337 No score
Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in PHPMailer before 5.2.14 allow attackers to inject arbitrary SMTP commands via CRLF sequences in an (1) email address to the validateAddress function in class.phpmailer.php or (2) SMTP command to the sendCommand function in class.smtp.php, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0796.
- Record
EUVD-2020-0337- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-738m-f33v-qc2r No score
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
- Record
GHSA-738m-f33v-qc2r- Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV No score
Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in PHPMailer before 5.2.14 allow attackers to inject arbitrary SMTP commands via CRLF sequences in an (1) email address to the validateAddress function in class.phpmailer.php or (2) SMTP command to the sendCommand function in class.smtp.php, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0796.
- Record
CVE-2015-8476- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2015-8476 No score
Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in PHPMailer before 5.2.14 allow attackers to inject arbitrary SMTP commands via CRLF sequences in an (1) email address to the validateAddress function in class.phpmailer.php or (2) SMTP command to the sendCommand function in class.smtp.php, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0796.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2015-8476- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-738m-f33v-qc2r No score
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
- Record
GHSA-738m-f33v-qc2r- Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2015-0484 No score
Updated php-phpmailer packages fix CVE-2015-8476
Updated php-phpmailer package fixes security vulnerability:
Takeshi Terada discovered that PHPMailer accepted addresses containing line breaks. This is valid in RFC5322, but allowing such addresses resulted in invalid RFC5321 SMTP commands, permitting a kind of message injection attack (CVE-2015-8476).
- Record
MGASA-2015-0484- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2015-8476 No score
Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in PHPMailer before 5.2.14 allow attackers to inject arbitrary SMTP commands via CRLF sequences in an (1) email address to the validateAddress function in class.phpmailer.php or (2) SMTP command to the sendCommand function in class.smtp.php, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0796.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2015-8476- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
phpmailer/phpmailerPackagist |
5.0.0 up to 5.2.14 | 5.2.14 |
libphp-phpmailerDebian:12 |
before 5.2.14+dfsg-1 | 5.2.14+dfsg-1 |
libphp-phpmailerDebian:13 |
before 5.2.14+dfsg-1 | 5.2.14+dfsg-1 |
libphp-phpmailerDebian:14 |
before 5.2.14+dfsg-1 | 5.2.14+dfsg-1 |
libphp-phpmailerDebian:6.0 |
before 5.1-1+deb6u11, plus listed versions 5.1-1 |
5.1-1+deb6u11 |
libphp-phpmailerDebian:7 |
before 5.1-1.1, plus listed versions 5.1-1 |
5.1-1.1 |
libphp-phpmailerDebian:8 |
before 5.2.9+dfsg-2+deb8u1, plus listed versions 5.2.9+dfsg-2 |
5.2.9+dfsg-2+deb8u1 |
phpmailer/phpmailerPackagist |
5.0.0 up to 5.2.14, plus listed versions v5.2.10v5.2.11v5.2.12v5.2.13v5.2.2 Show 6 moreShow lessv5.2.4v5.2.5v5.2.6v5.2.7v5.2.8v5.2.9 |
5.2.14 |
php-phpmailerMageia:5 |
before 5.2.14-1.mga5 | 5.2.14-1.mga5 |
libphp-phpmailerUbuntu:14.04:LTS |
before 5.1-1+deb6u11build0.14.04.1, plus listed versions 5.1-1 |
5.1-1+deb6u11build0.14.04.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2015-8476 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.0) in Phpmailer Project Phpmailer, published December 8, 2015. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.99%, the 80th percentile. Fixed in phpmailer/phpmailer 5.2.14.
References
github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/commit/6687a96a18b8f12148881e4ddde795ae477284b0
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2016-February/177139.html
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/12/05/1
github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v5.2.14
debian.org/security/2015/dsa-3416
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2016-February/177130.html
Show 12 moreShow less
securityfocus.com/bid/78619
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/12/04/5
github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/security/advisories/GHSA-738m-f33v-qc2r
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8476
github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/phpmailer/phpmailer/CVE-2015-8476.yaml
github.com/advisories/GHSA-738m-f33v-qc2r
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-8476
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2015-0484.html
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17319
lwn.net/Alerts/667302
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-8476
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8476