CVE-2018-7702 in SecurMail
Summary
by MITRE
SecurEnvoy SecurMail before 9.2.501 allows remote attackers to spoof transmission of arbitrary e-mail messages, resend e-mail messages to arbitrary recipients, or modify arbitrary message bodies and attachments by leveraging missing authentication and authorization.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/03/2024
The SecurEnvoy SecurMail vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-7702 represents a critical security flaw in email transmission systems that fundamentally undermines the integrity and authenticity of digital communications. This vulnerability affects SecurMail versions prior to 9.2.501 and exposes organizations to sophisticated email spoofing attacks that can compromise sensitive business communications and potentially lead to data breaches or social engineering campaigns. The flaw resides in the application's failure to implement proper authentication and authorization mechanisms during the email transmission process, creating an attack surface that malicious actors can exploit to manipulate email flows without legitimate credentials.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from the absence of robust verification controls that should normally validate the identity of senders and authorize their actions within the email system. According to CWE classification, this represents a weakness in authentication mechanisms and authorization controls, specifically manifesting as CWE-287 which addresses improper authentication scenarios. The vulnerability allows attackers to perform three distinct malicious operations including spoofing arbitrary email messages, resending emails to unauthorized recipients, and modifying message content or attachments. These capabilities directly violate fundamental email security principles and enable attackers to bypass normal email filtering and security controls that organizations rely upon for protection against malicious communications.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risks for organizations using SecurEnvoy SecurMail systems as it enables attackers to impersonate legitimate users and send fraudulent communications that can deceive recipients and potentially compromise sensitive information. The ability to resend emails to arbitrary recipients means that attackers can target multiple individuals simultaneously, while message body and attachment modification capabilities allow for the injection of malicious content or the alteration of critical business communications. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which describes social engineering tactics involving email-based attacks, and T1071.004 which covers application layer protocol usage for command and control communications. The impact extends beyond immediate message manipulation to potentially enable broader compromise through spearphishing campaigns or business email compromise attacks that can result in financial losses, data exfiltration, and reputational damage.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement comprehensive mitigation strategies focusing on patch management and security hardening. The primary remediation involves upgrading to SecurEnvoy SecurMail version 9.2.501 or later, which includes the necessary authentication and authorization controls to prevent unauthorized email manipulation. Additional protective measures should include implementing email authentication protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to provide additional layers of verification for incoming and outgoing messages. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect anomalous email transmission patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Security teams should also conduct thorough audits of email system configurations and implement strict access controls for email administration functions. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security software and the necessity of implementing defense-in-depth strategies that protect against multiple attack vectors rather than relying on single security controls. Organizations should also consider implementing email encryption solutions and enhanced logging mechanisms to provide better visibility into email activities and facilitate incident response when such vulnerabilities are exploited.