Mailutils: Format string vulnerability in imap4d — GLSA 200509-10

The imap4d server contains a vulnerability allowing an authenticated user to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the imap4d process.

Affected packages

net-mail/mailutils on all architectures
Affected versions < 0.6-r2
Unaffected versions >= 0.6-r2

Background

The GNU Mailutils are a collection of mail-related utilities, including an IMAP4 server (imap4d).

Description

The imap4d server contains a format string bug in the handling of IMAP SEARCH requests.

Impact

An authenticated IMAP user could exploit the format string error in imap4d to execute arbitrary code as the imap4d user, which is usually root.

Workaround

There are no known workarounds at this time.

Resolution

All GNU Mailutils users should upgrade to the latest available version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-mail/mailutils-0.6-r2"

References

Release date
September 17, 2005

Latest revision
May 22, 2006: 02

Severity
high

Exploitable
remote

Bugzilla entries