Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessCraft email with Unicode lookalike characters
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ExploitBypass subject sanitization filters
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ExecutionForge security tags in message
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ImpactDeceive recipients about message authenticity
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Input validation, allowlisting
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Remote unauthenticated attacker can send crafted emails with Unicode lookalike characters to SEPPmail Secure Email Gateway versions before 15.0.3. No victim interaction required; exploitation occurs during email processing on the gateway itself. |
| Impact | While CVSS score and vector are not available, the vulnerability carries significant real-world risk due to its direct impact on email authentication and user trust. The attack vector is classified as network-based (email delivery), with low complexity and no authentication required, making exploitation trivial for remote attackers. The vulnerability enables email spoofing and phishing-foundational attack techniques-by allowing forge of security indicators that users rely upon to distinguish legitimate from malicious email. CISA KEV status is not confirmed in the provided data, and no public exploit code is referenced, suggesting this may be a pre-disclosure or coordinated disclosure. However, the simplicity of Unicode homoglyph exploitation means threat actors can quickly weaponize this once disclosed, and organizations cannot rely on detection tools to catch attacks using lookalike characters. Patch availability (version 15.0.3) significantly reduces urgency for organizations that can deploy updates rapidly, but unpatched systems face high exploitation probability once the technique becomes known. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker sends a phishing email to a target organization's users with a subject line crafted using Unicode lookalike characters (e.g., Cyrillic 'а' substituted for Latin 'a') designed to visually resemble a legitimate message from an internal department. The attacker also forges security tags by using similar character substitution, making the email appear to bear the organization's authentic security markings. SEPPmail's subject sanitization filter fails to strip or normalize these characters due to inadequate Unicode validation, allowing the email to pass through with the forged tags intact. Users, trusting the seemingly legitimate subject and security indicators, click malicious links or provide credentials, believing they are communicating with trusted internal systems. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Apr 02, 2026
SEPPmail Secure Email Gateway before version 15.0.3 allows attackers to bypass subject sanitization and forge security tags by exploiting Unicode lookalike characters, enabling email spoofing and phishing attacks that evade gateway security controls. This vulnerability affects all versions prior to 15.0.3, impacts organizations relying on SEPPmail for email security, and requires immediate patching. No public exploit code has been identified at the time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade SEPPmail Secure Email Gateway to version 15.0.3 or later. Organizations should apply this patch immediately, as the vulnerability enables trivial email spoofing attacks that directly undermine gateway security. Consult the official SEPPmail release notes at https://downloads.seppmail.com/extrelnotes/150/ERN15.0.html#seppmail-vulnerability-disclosure-1503 for upgrade procedures and any interim mitigations. No workarounds to block Unicode homoglyph attacks are practical without patching the underlying validation logic; temporary compensating controls such as user awareness training about suspicious visual artifacts in subjects may provide minimal defense pending patch deployment.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation (CWE-20) in SEPPmail's subject line and security tag processing mechanisms. The root cause involves the gateway's failure to normalize or properly validate Unicode characters, allowing attackers to use visually similar Unicode lookalike characters (homoglyphs) to bypass sanitization filters designed to prevent subject line manipulation and forged security tags. Security tags are typically used by email gateways to indicate authentication status, encryption, or other security properties to end users; Unicode homoglyphs can make malicious content appear legitimate to human readers while technically satisfying the gateway's validation logic. The affected product is SEPPmail Secure Email Gateway, a message security and compliance appliance used for email filtering and policy enforcement.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:H/SA:N
Primary rating from Vendor (NCSC.ch) · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorVendor: NCSC.ch
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
SEPPmail Secure Email Gateway before version 15.0.3 allows an attacker to bypass subject sanitization and forge security tags using Unicode lookalike characters.
Executive ViewAI
SEPPmail Secure Email Gateway versions before 15.0.3 contain a Unicode character manipulation vulnerability that allows attackers to bypass email security controls and forge legitimate-appearing messages, directly undermining the email gateway's core protective function and exposing the organization to advanced phishing and spoofing attacks.
Apply vendor patch. Interim mitigations pending patch deployment: enable strict DMARC/SPF/DKIM validation at gateway; implement additional content filtering rules to detect Unicode lookalike characters in subject lines and security tag regions; enhance user awareness training on visual email inspection for spoofed security indicators; consider temporary email routing restrictions for high-risk sender domains.
Threat Intelligence Overview
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.
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EUVD-2026-18168
GHSA-vc5m-vgvg-698r
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB