CVE-2002-1827

Sendmail 8.9.0-8.12.3 - Denial of Service via File Locking

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 2 public exploits for CVE-2002-1827. PoCs published by zillion.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit demonstrates a denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in Sendmail by acquiring exclusive locks on critical files required for its operation. The code forks a child process that locks three key files and enters an infinite loop, preventing Sendmail from accessing them.

Description

Sendmail 8.9.0 through 8.12.3 allows local users to cause a denial of service by obtaining an exclusive lock on the (1) alias, (2) map, (3) statistics, and (4) pid files.

Exploits (2)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by zillion · cdoslinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/21477

This exploit demonstrates a denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in Sendmail by acquiring exclusive locks on critical files required for its operation. The code forks a child process that locks three key files and enters an infinite loop, preventing Sendmail from accessing them.

Classification
Working Poc 90%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Sendmail (versions affected by CVE-2002-1827)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Access to the target system to execute the binary · Write permissions to the locked files or ability to open them in read-only mode
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →
exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by zillion · cdoslinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/21476

This exploit leverages a denial-of-service vulnerability in Sendmail by locking the /etc/mail/aliases.db file. The shellcode is designed to create an exclusive lock on the file, preventing Sendmail from accessing it and causing a DoS condition.

Classification
Working Poc 90%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Sendmail (versions affected by CVE-2002-1827)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Access to the target system to execute the binary
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (4)

Core 4
Core References
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry mailing-list x_refsource_bugtraq
http://online.securityfocus.com/archive/1/274033
Third Party Advisory vdb-entry x_refsource_xf
http://www.iss.net/security_center/static/9162.php
Exploit vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/4822
Vendor Advisory x_refsource_confirm
http://www.sendmail.org/LockingAdvisory.txt

Scores

EPSS 0.0093
EPSS Percentile 55.9%

Details

Status published
Products (19)
sendmail/sendmail 8.9.0
sendmail/sendmail 8.9.1
sendmail/sendmail 8.9.2
sendmail/sendmail 8.9.3
sendmail/sendmail 8.10
sendmail/sendmail 8.10.1
sendmail/sendmail 8.10.2
sendmail/sendmail 8.11.0
sendmail/sendmail 8.11.1
sendmail/sendmail 8.11.2
... and 9 more
Published Dec 31, 2002
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026