CVE-2023-51765

Description

A flaw was found in some SMTP server configurations in Sendmail. This issue may allow a remote attacker to break out of the email message data to "smuggle" SMTP commands and send spoofed emails that pass SPF checks.

Statement

The Sendmail vulnerability allowing SMTP smuggling is deemed moderate due to its impact on SPF protection mechanisms and specific conditions for successful exploitation. SMTP smuggling involves manipulating the communication between mail servers to inject unauthorized messages. Exploiting this flaw involves a technique where remote attackers inject email messages with a spoofed MAIL FROM address. This manipulation allows them to bypass SPF protections because Sendmail supports the . sequence, which some other popular email servers do not.

Mitigation

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score5.35.3N/A
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkN/A
Attack ComplexityLowLowN/A
Privileges RequiredNoneNoneN/A
User InteractionNoneNoneN/A
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityNoneNoneN/A
Integrity ImpactLowLowN/A
Availability ImpactNoneNoneN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Integrity,Non-Repudiation,Access Control

Technical Impact: Unexpected State; Hide Activities; Bypass Protection Mechanism

An attacker could create HTTP messages to exploit a number of weaknesses including 1) the message can trick the web server to associate a URL with another URL's webpage and caching the contents of the webpage (web cache poisoning attack), 2) the message can be structured to bypass the firewall protection mechanisms and gain unauthorized access to a web application, and 3) the message can invoke a script or a page that returns client credentials (similar to a Cross Site Scripting attack).

Frequently Asked Questions

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