Dovecot
CVE-2019-11500
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Bounds checking, write limits
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
In Dovecot before 2.2.36.4 and 2.3.x before 2.3.7.2 (and Pigeonhole before 0.5.7.2), protocol processing can fail for quoted strings. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Validate write boundaries, use memory-safe languages, enable compiler protections (ASLR, stack canaries).
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787), which allows attackers to write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes. In Dovecot before 2.2.36.4 and 2.3.x before 2.3.7.2 (and Pigeonhole before 0.5.7.2), protocol processing can fail for quoted strings. This occurs because '\0' characters are mishandled, and can lead to out-of-bounds writes and remote code execution. Affected products include: Dovecot, Dovecot Pigeonhole, Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora. Version information: before 2.2.36.4.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
In Dovecot before 2.2.36.4 and 2.3.x before 2.3.7.2 (and Pigeonhole before 0.5.7.2), protocol processing can fail for quoted strings. This occurs because '\0' characters are mishandled, and can lead to out-of-bounds writes and remote code execution.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.
Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
In Dovecot before 2.3.11.3, sending a specially formatted RPA request will crash the auth service because a length of ze
In Dovecot before 2.3.11.3, sending a specially formatted NTLM request will crash the auth service because of an out-of-
In Dovecot before 2.3.11.3, uncontrolled recursion in submission, lmtp, and lda allows remote attackers to cause a denia
In Dovecot before 2.3.10.1, unauthenticated sending of malformed parameters to a NOOP command causes a NULL Pointer Dere
It was discovered that Dovecot before versions 2.2.36.1 and 2.3.4.1 incorrectly handled client certificates. Rated mediu
In Dovecot before 2.3.10.1, remote unauthenticated attackers can crash the lmtp or submission process by sending mail wi
In Dovecot before 2.3.10.1, a crafted SMTP/LMTP message triggers an unauthenticated use-after-free bug in submission-log
The IMAP and LMTP components in Dovecot 2.3.9 before 2.3.9.3 mishandle snippet generation when many characters must be r
An issue was discovered in the auth component in Dovecot 2.2 and 2.3 before 2.3.20. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this
In Dovecot before 2.2.36.3 and 2.3.x before 2.3.5.1, a local attacker can cause a buffer overflow in the indexer-worker
The auth component in Dovecot before 2.2.27, when auth-policy is configured, allows a remote attackers to cause a denial
Unauthenticated remote attackers can disrupt authentication on OX Dovecot Pro servers by sending malformed base64 SASL d
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB