lib-mail/message-header-parser.c in Dovecot 1.2.x before 1.2.17 and 2.0.x before 2.0.13 does not properly handle '\0' characters in header names, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash or mailbox corruption) via a crafted e-mail message.

dovecot crash when parsing mail headers that contain NUL characters (CVE-2011-1929)

From Red Hat Security Advisory 2011:1187 :

Updated dovecot packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, 5, and 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.

Dovecot is an IMAP server for Linux, UNIX, and similar operating systems, primarily written with security in mind.

A denial of service flaw was found in the way Dovecot handled NULL characters in certain header names. A mail message with specially crafted headers could cause the Dovecot child process handling the target user's connection to crash, blocking them from downloading the message successfully and possibly leading to the corruption of their mailbox. (CVE-2011-1929)

Users of dovecot are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to resolve this issue. After installing the updated packages, the dovecot service will be restarted automatically.

Dovecot is an IMAP server for Linux, UNIX, and similar operating systems, primarily written with security in mind.

A denial of service flaw was found in the way Dovecot handled NULL characters in certain header names. A mail message with specially crafted headers could cause the Dovecot child process handling the target user's connection to crash, blocking them from downloading the message successfully and possibly leading to the corruption of their mailbox. (CVE-2011-1929)

Users of dovecot are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to resolve this issue. After installing the updated packages, the dovecot service will be restarted automatically.

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201110-04 (Dovecot: Multiple vulnerabilities)

    Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Dovecot. Please review       the CVE identifiers referenced below for details.
  Impact :

    A remote attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to cause the       remote execution of arbitrary code, or a Denial of Service condition, to       conduct directory traversal attacks, corrupt data, or disclose       information.
  Workaround :

    There is no known workaround at this time.

Updated dovecot packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, 5, and 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.

Dovecot is an IMAP server for Linux, UNIX, and similar operating systems, primarily written with security in mind.

A denial of service flaw was found in the way Dovecot handled NULL characters in certain header names. A mail message with specially crafted headers could cause the Dovecot child process handling the target user's connection to crash, blocking them from downloading the message successfully and possibly leading to the corruption of their mailbox. (CVE-2011-1929)

Users of dovecot are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to resolve this issue. After installing the updated packages, the dovecot service will be restarted automatically.

Timo Sirainen reports :

Fixed potential crashes and other problems when parsing header names that contained NUL characters.

It was discovered that the message header parser in Dovecot did not properly handle '\0' characters in header names. This could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service through a crafted email message by crashing the Dovecot daemon or corrupting mailboxes.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

- Fixed potential crashes and other problems when parsing     header names that contained NUL characters.

    - IMAP: Fixed a memory leak with ESEARCH command       handling

    - Quota warnings could have been executed at incorrect       times with some configs.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

It was discovered that the message header parser in the Dovecot mail server parsed NUL characters incorrectly, which could lead to denial of service through malformed mail headers.

The oldstable distribution (lenny) is not affected.

- dovecot updated to 2.0.13

    - mdbox purge: Fixed wrong warning about corrupted       extrefs.

    - script-login binary wasn't actually dropping       privileges to the user/group/chroot specified by its       service settings.

  - Fixed potential crashes and other problems when parsing     header names that contained NUL characters.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

A vulnerability has been identified and fixed in dovecot :

lib-mail/message-header-parser.c in Dovecot 1.2.x before 1.2.17 and 2.0.x before 2.0.13 does not properly handle '&#0;' (NUL) characters in header names, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash or mailbox corruption) via a crafted e-mail message (CVE-2011-1929).

Packages for 2009.0 are provided as of the Extended Maintenance Program. Please visit this link to learn more:
http://store.mandriva.com/product_info.php?cPath=149 products_id=490

The updated packages have been patched to correct this issue.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
75819	openSUSE Security Update : dovecot20 (dovecot20-4610)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
75818	openSUSE Security Update : dovecot12 (dovecot12-4609)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
75472	openSUSE Security Update : dovecot12 (openSUSE-SU-2011:0540-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
68330	Oracle Linux 4 / 5 / 6 : dovecot (ELSA-2011-1187)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	medium
61116	Scientific Linux Security Update : dovecot on SL4.x, SL5.x, SL6.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	medium
56446	GLSA-201110-04 : Dovecot: Multiple vulnerabilities	Nessus	Gentoo Local Security Checks	high
55924	CentOS 4 / 5 : dovecot (CESA-2011:1187)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	medium
55917	RHEL 4 / 5 / 6 : dovecot (RHSA-2011:1187)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	medium
55913	FreeBSD : dovecot -- denial of service vulnerability (0b53f5f7-ca8a-11e0-aea3-00215c6a37bb)	Nessus	FreeBSD Local Security Checks	medium
55106	Ubuntu 10.04 LTS / 10.10 / 11.04 : dovecot vulnerability (USN-1143-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	medium
55055	Fedora 13 : dovecot-1.2.17-1.fc13 (2011-7612)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	medium
55040	Debian DSA-2252-1 : dovecot - programming error	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	medium
54912	Fedora 15 : dovecot-2.0.13-1.fc15 (2011-7268)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	medium
54911	Fedora 14 : dovecot-2.0.13-1.fc14 (2011-7258)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	medium
54839	Mandriva Linux Security Advisory : dovecot (MDVSA-2011:101)	Nessus	Mandriva Local Security Checks	medium

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2011-1929

high

Tenable Plugins

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

high

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium