CVE-2025-15366

Description

A flaw was found in the imaplib module in the Python standard library. The imaplib module does not reject control characters, such as newlines, in user-controlled input passed to IMAP commands. This issue allows an attacker to inject additional commands to be executed in the IMAP server.

Statement

To exploit this issue, an attacker needs to have the privileges required to send malicious input to an application that sends IMAP commands to a server. Additionally, this flaw can allow attackers to manipulate the state of the mailbox (e.g., delete emails, move folders, flag messages) and to potentially read metadata or specific email content, but it does not allow arbitrary code execution or OS command injection. Due to these reasons, this issue has been rated with a moderate severity.

Mitigation

To mitigate this vulnerability, ensure that no data passed to the imaplib module contains newline or carriage return characters.

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).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score7.1N/AN/A
Attack VectorNetworkN/AN/A
Attack ComplexityLowN/AN/A
Privileges RequiredLowN/AN/A
User InteractionNoneN/AN/A
ScopeUnchangedN/AN/A
ConfidentialityLowN/AN/A
Integrity ImpactHighN/AN/A
Availability ImpactNoneN/AN/A

Vector

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

If a malicious user injects a character (such as a semi-colon) that delimits the end of one command and the beginning of another, it may be possible to then insert an entirely new and unrelated command that was not intended to be executed. This gives an attacker a privilege or capability that they would not otherwise have.

Frequently Asked Questions

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