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OX Dovecot EUVDEUVD-2026-67659

| CVE-2026-33604 MEDIUM
Insufficient Psychological Acceptability (CWE-655)
2026-08-28 OX GHSA-ccxf-782r-4742
5.9
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: OX
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Deliver crafted email to Dovecot-relayed address
  2. Delivery
    Bare CR sequence bypasses Dovecot outbound sanitization
  3. Exploit
    Message relayed to vulnerable downstream SMTP server
  4. Execution
    Downstream server splits on injected boundary
  5. Persist
    Forged SMTP envelope processed as new message
  6. Impact
    Spoofed email delivered as legitimate

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires that the attacker can induce OX Dovecot to relay a crafted message outbound - specifically via a Sieve redirect rule (user-configured mail forwarding) or a submission relay path. The attacker requires no authentication to Dovecot itself (PR:N per CVSS vector), but must be able to deliver a message that Dovecot will subsequently relay. A second condition is mandatory: a vulnerable downstream SMTP server that accepts bare carriage returns as line terminators must be present in the relay path; the spoofing impact occurs on that downstream server, not within Dovecot. Exploitation is therefore bounded to deployments where both conditions simultaneously hold: an active relay path through OX Dovecot and an unpatched receiving MTA. Environments where all downstream servers have addressed SMTP smuggling (e.g., by rejecting bare CRs) are not exploitable even with unpatched Dovecot.

Impact

The CVSS 3.1 score of 5.9 Medium (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N) accurately reflects the high attack complexity created by the dual-dependency structure: exploitation requires both a functional Dovecot relay path (Sieve redirect or submission relay accepting attacker-influenced messages) and a downstream SMTP server that has not yet addressed the base SMTP smuggling vulnerability class. No EPSS data was provided; with no KEV listing and no confirmed public exploit code, mass opportunistic exploitation is unlikely in the near term. The S:U (scope unchanged) designation in the provided vector arguably understates the real-world impact, because the tangible harm - forged email acceptance - occurs on a downstream server outside the Dovecot boundary; this analysis independently assesses scope as Changed, which would push the effective severity above 5.9. Organizations operating OX Dovecot as a relay hub in heterogeneous mail environments with legacy or unpatched downstream MTAs face the most concrete risk. The integrity-only impact profile (no confidentiality, no availability) is nonetheless operationally significant: successful spoofing enables phishing, business email compromise, and audit/compliance violations.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker delivers a crafted message to a mailbox on the OX Dovecot server where a Sieve redirect rule or submission relay path causes Dovecot to forward the message to a downstream SMTP server that has not patched its SMTP smuggling vulnerability. The crafted message body embeds a bare carriage return sequence positioned to appear as a valid SMTP command terminator to the downstream server, causing it to interpret subsequent body content as a new SMTP envelope and accept delivery of a spoofed message as if from an arbitrary sender. No public proof-of-concept code exists, but the underlying technique is well-documented from the 2023 SMTP smuggling research wave covering CVE-2023-51764 and CVE-2023-51766.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Aug 28, 2026

SMTP smuggling in Open-Xchange's OX Dovecot Pro and Community Edition allows an unauthenticated attacker to inject forged SMTP commands into messages relayed through Dovecot, bypassing its outbound content-sanitization logic. By embedding crafted bare carriage return sequences in a message body - delivered via Sieve redirect or submission relay - the attacker causes a vulnerable downstream mail server to misinterpret message body content as new SMTP envelope commands, enabling injection of spoofed email. This is the same vulnerability class as CVE-2023-51764 (Postfix) and CVE-2023-51766 (Exim); no public exploit code exists and the CVE is not listed in CISA's KEV catalog.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to the patched release of OX Dovecot Pro or OX Dovecot CE as specified in the Open-Xchange security advisory at https://documentation.open-xchange.com/dovecot/security/advisories/csaf/2026/oxdc-adv-2026-0003.json; exact fix version numbers must be confirmed from that source as they are not present in current public data. Where immediate patching is not possible, the most effective compensating control is configuring downstream mail servers to reject bare carriage returns (lone \r not followed by \n) in SMTP DATA segments - this blocks the downstream misinterpretation regardless of what Dovecot relays, though it may reject rare but technically non-conformant legitimate messages. Auditing and restricting Sieve redirect rules to limit attacker-influenced relay paths reduces exposure at the cost of constraining legitimate mail forwarding. If submission relay is not operationally required, disabling it eliminates that attack vector entirely.

Affected VersionsENISA

OX Dovecot Pro 3.0.0 <3.0.7
OX Dovecot CE 2.3.0 <2.4.5
OX Dovecot Pro 2.3.0 <2.3.22.2
OX Dovecot Pro 3.1.0 <3.1.6

Affected Packages

euvd ox_dovecot_ce fix: 2.4.5
euvd ox_dovecot_pro fix: 2.3.22.2, 3.0.7, 3.1.6

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 2 packages in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

OX Dovecot Pro and OX Dovecot CE are Open-Xchange's commercial and community distributions of the Dovecot IMAP and SMTP submission server, identified by CPE strings cpe:2.3:a:open-xchange_gmbh:ox_dovecot_pro:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* and cpe:2.3:a:open-xchange_gmbh:ox_dovecot_ce:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*. The root cause is CWE-655 (Insufficient Compartmentalization), reflecting a failure to maintain a strict boundary between the SMTP DATA channel and the SMTP command channel. SMTP smuggling exploits ambiguous line-ending interpretations: some server implementations accept bare carriage returns (CR without LF, i.e. \r not followed by \n) as valid line terminators within message bodies while others do not, allowing a specially crafted message body to appear as pure data to Dovecot but as a new SMTP command sequence to a downstream server. Dovecot's outbound relay protection is designed to strip or neutralize such sequences before forwarding, but this vulnerability represents a bypass of that mechanism. The attack surface is specifically the Sieve redirect feature and the submission relay path.

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Severity by source

Vendor (OX) PRIMARY 5.9 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
vuln.today AI 6.8 MEDIUM

Scope Changed because the tangible impact - forged email acceptance - occurs on a downstream server outside Dovecot; remaining metrics align with the provided vector.

3.1 AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:H/SA:N
SUSE MEDIUM
Red Hat 5.9 MEDIUM

Primary rating from Vendor (OX).

CVSS VectorVendor: OX

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

1
Patch available
Aug 28, 2026 - 13:17 EUVD

DescriptionCVE.org

An attacker that can get Dovecot to relay a message, for example through Sieve redirect or submission relay, can use a crafted line ending in the message body to bypass the outbound protection that prevents message content from being interpreted as SMTP commands. A downstream mail server that hasn't yet fixed the SMTP smuggling vulnerability can be tricked into treating part of the message body as new SMTP commands, allowing injection of spoofed email. This is the same vulnerability class as CVE-2023-51764 and CVE-2023-51766. Where you control the receiving mail servers, ensure they reject bare carriage returns in message data. Update to non-vulnerable version. No publicly available exploits are known.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 81% exploitable
Prevalence
Medium
used by Open-Xchange hosting providers and enterprise email deployments
Data Quality
7 sources
Confidence: High
EUVD NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment Vendor VulDB

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.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

30
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +30
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.

CVE-2026-42007 CRITICAL
9.1 Aug 28

Use-after-free in the OX Dovecot Pro and Dovecot CE mail-editing code lets an authenticated user who can install a Sieve

CVE-2026-27851 CRITICAL
9.1 May 12

Authentication-layer injection in OX Dovecot Pro (versions up to and including 2.4.3 and 3.1.4) arises from a flaw in th

CVE-2026-24031 HIGH
8.2 Mar 27

Authentication bypass and user enumeration in OX Dovecot Pro (versions up to and including 3.1.0 and the 2.4.x line up t

CVE-2026-27860 LOW POC
3.7 Mar 27

Open-Xchange Dovecot Pro contains an LDAP filter injection vulnerability in its authentication module that allows remote

CVE-2026-42391 HIGH
7.5 Aug 28

Denial of service in OX Dovecot Pro and OX Dovecot CE allows unauthenticated remote attackers to exhaust memory and CPU

CVE-2026-33605 HIGH
7.5 Aug 28

ManageSieve login process in OX Dovecot CE and Pro crashes on receipt of a small malformed pre-authentication command, e

CVE-2026-27852 HIGH
7.5 Aug 28

Memory exhaustion in OX Dovecot Pro and OX Dovecot CE allows any remote sender to deny IMAP service to a targeted user b

CVE-2025-59028 HIGH
7.5 Mar 27

Unauthenticated remote attackers can disrupt authentication on OX Dovecot Pro servers by sending malformed base64 SASL d

CVE-2025-59032 HIGH
7.5 Mar 27

OX Dovecot Pro ManageSieve service crashes when processing AUTHENTICATE commands with SASL initial responses using liter

CVE-2026-27858 HIGH
7.5 Mar 27

OX Dovecot Pro managesieve-login process crashes repeatedly due to memory exhaustion triggered by unauthenticated attack

CVE-2026-27857 HIGH
7.5 Mar 27

Remote memory-exhaustion denial of service in OX Dovecot Pro (versions up to and including 2.3.0) lets an unauthenticate

CVE-2026-40018 HIGH
7.4 Aug 28

SQL injection in Open-Xchange OX Dovecot Pro and OX Dovecot CE enables unauthenticated remote attackers, under high-comp

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
openSUSE Tumbleweed Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP7 Affected

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