CVE-2003-0296 in Evolution
Summary
by MITRE
The IMAP Client for Evolution 1.2.4 allows remote malicious IMAP servers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via certain large literal size values that cause either integer signedness errors or integer overflow errors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/14/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-0296 represents a critical security flaw in the IMAP client component of Evolution 1.2.4 email client software. This issue stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms within the client's handling of IMAP protocol responses, specifically when processing literal size values sent by remote IMAP servers. The vulnerability manifests when the client encounters specially crafted large literal size parameters that exploit fundamental programming errors in the integer handling logic. These malformed values can trigger either signedness errors or integer overflow conditions within the client's memory management routines, creating exploitable conditions that compromise system stability and potentially enable remote code execution.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of IMAP protocol communication between the client and malicious server. When Evolution processes an IMAP response containing oversized literal size values, the client's integer parsing routines fail to properly validate the magnitude of these values, leading to arithmetic overflow conditions. These overflow scenarios can result in memory corruption, buffer overflows, or other exploitable memory management errors that allow attackers to manipulate program execution flow. The vulnerability specifically targets the client-side parsing logic that handles IMAP literal data transfers, where the client allocates memory buffers based on size parameters provided by the server. This type of flaw falls under CWE-190, Integer Overflow or Wraparound, and CWE-191, Integer Underflow, which are fundamental categories of integer-related vulnerabilities commonly exploited in network protocols.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to users of Evolution 1.2.4 who connect to potentially malicious IMAP servers or encounter compromised mail servers. The denial of service aspect of this vulnerability can render email clients completely unusable, preventing legitimate users from accessing their mail accounts and potentially disrupting business communications. More critically, the potential for arbitrary code execution means that attackers could gain unauthorized access to affected systems, potentially leading to complete system compromise. The attack vector requires only that a user connects to a malicious IMAP server and processes mail messages, making it particularly dangerous in environments where users may inadvertently connect to compromised servers or where mail servers are not properly secured. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1190, Exploit Public-Facing Application, and T1059, Command and Scripting Interpreter, as it enables remote exploitation of client applications through protocol manipulation.
The mitigation strategies for CVE-2003-0296 primarily involve immediate software updates and patches provided by the Evolution development team. Users should upgrade to Evolution versions that include proper input validation and integer overflow protection mechanisms in their IMAP client implementations. Network administrators should consider implementing additional security controls such as IMAP server filtering, network segmentation, and monitoring for unusual IMAP protocol behavior. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and integer handling in network protocol implementations, emphasizing the need for defensive programming practices that prevent arithmetic overflow conditions. Organizations should also consider implementing email gateway solutions that can filter potentially malicious IMAP responses before they reach end-user clients, providing an additional layer of protection against this type of exploitation. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar integer handling flaws in other email client implementations and network protocols.