Dovecot
CVE-2022-30550
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Authentication mechanism validation
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Defense Evasion, Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 8.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
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 vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This Improper Authentication vulnerability could allow attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Implement multi-factor authentication, enforce strong password policies, use proven authentication frameworks.
Affects your stack
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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 Improper Authentication (CWE-287), which allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access. An issue was discovered in the auth component in Dovecot 2.2 and 2.3 before 2.3.20. When two passdb configuration entries exist with the same driver and args settings, incorrect username_filter and mechanism settings can be applied to passdb definitions. These incorrectly applied settings can lead to an unintended security configuration and can permit privilege escalation in certain configurations. The documentation does not advise against the use of passdb definitions that have the same driver and args settings. One such configuration would be where an administrator wishes to use the same PAM configuration or passwd file for both normal and master users but use the username_filter setting to restrict which of the users is able to be a master user. Affected products include: Dovecot, Debian Debian Linux. Version information: before 2.3.20..
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
An issue was discovered in the auth component in Dovecot 2.2 and 2.3 before 2.3.20. When two passdb configuration entries exist with the same driver and args settings, incorrect username_filter and mechanism settings can be applied to passdb definitions. These incorrectly applied settings can lead to an unintended security configuration and can permit privilege escalation in certain configurations. The documentation does not advise against the use of passdb definitions that have the same driver and args settings. One such configuration would be where an administrator wishes to use the same PAM configuration or passwd file for both normal and master users but use the username_filter setting to restrict which of the users is able to be a master user.
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
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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 qu
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
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