SpamAssassin up to 3.0.4 Regular Expression Message.pm Long Header denial of service

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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5.3$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in SpamAssassin up to 3.0.4. It has been classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the file Message.pm of the component Regular Expression Handler. Performing a manipulation as part of Long Header results in denial of service. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2005-3351. The attack can be initiated remotely. Additionally, an exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in SpamAssassin up to 3.0.4 (Anti-Spam Software). This affects an unknown code block of the file Message.pm of the component Regular Expression Handler. The manipulation as part of a Long Header leads to a denial of service vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

SpamAssassin 3.0.4 allows attackers to bypass spam detection via an e-mail with a large number of recipients ("To" addresses), which triggers a bus error in Perl.

The bug was discovered 11/10/2005. The weakness was released 11/10/2005 by Irina and Mark Martinec (Website). The advisory is shared at issues.apache.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2005-3351 since 10/27/2005. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Technical details and a exploit are known. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

After before and not just, there has been an exploit disclosed. It is declared as proof-of-concept. The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 84 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $5k-$25k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 21978 (CentOS 4 : spamassassin (CESA-2006:0129)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family CentOS Local Security Checks and running in the context l. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 117729 (CentOS Security Update for SpamAssassin (CESA-2006:0129)).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at spamassassin.apache.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version. A possible mitigation has been published 4 weeks after the disclosure of the vulnerability. Attack attempts may be identified with Snort ID 16199. Furthermore it is possible to detect and prevent this kind of attack with TippingPoint and the filter 9133.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (23048), Tenable (21978), SecurityFocus (BID 15373†), OSVDB (20703†) and Secunia (SA19158†). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Name

Version

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.3

VulDB Base Score: 5.9
VulDB Temp Score: 5.3
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Denial of service
CWE: CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Proof-of-Concept

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 21978
Nessus Name: CentOS 4 : spamassassin (CESA-2006:0129)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍
Nessus Port: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 55842
OpenVAS Name: FreeBSD Ports: p5-Mail-SpamAssassin
OpenVAS File: 🔍
OpenVAS Family: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Patch: spamassassin.apache.org

Snort ID: 16199
TippingPoint: 🔍
ISS Proventia IPS: 🔍
PaloAlto IPS: 🔍
Fortigate IPS: 🔍

Timelineinfo

08/18/2005 🔍
10/27/2005 +70 days 🔍
11/09/2005 +13 days 🔍
11/10/2005 +1 days 🔍
11/10/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/10/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/11/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/20/2005 +9 days 🔍
11/20/2005 +0 days 🔍
12/02/2005 +12 days 🔍
07/05/2006 +215 days 🔍
06/29/2025 +6934 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: issues.apache.org
Researcher: Irina, Mark Martinec
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2005-3351 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2005-3351
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-1881

OVAL: 🔍

X-Force: 23048 - SpamAssassin large number of message recipients can cause a denial of service, Medium Risk
SecurityFocus: 15373 - SpamAssassin Bus Error Spam Detection Bypass Vulnerability
Secunia: 19158 - Red Hat update for spamassassin, Less Critical
OSVDB: 20703 - SpamAssassin Long Message Header DoS
Vulnerability Center: 9661 - SpamAssassin Detection Bypass via Bus Error, Medium
Vupen: ADV-2005-2364

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013

Entryinfo

Created: 11/11/2005 10:03
Updated: 06/29/2025 05:34
Changes: 11/11/2005 10:03 (102), 07/05/2019 10:44 (1), 06/29/2025 05:34 (20)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:DC1:103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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