David Harris Mercury 4.0.1a IMAP Service memory corruption

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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9.5$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in David Harris Mercury 4.0.1a. The affected element is an unknown function of the component IMAP Service. This manipulation causes memory corruption. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2004-1211. Furthermore, an exploit is available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in David Harris Mercury 4.0.1a and classified as very critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown code of the component IMAP Service. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Multiple buffer overflows in the IMAP service in Mercury/32 4.01a allow remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (application crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via long arguments to the (1) EXAMINE, (2) SUBSCRIBE, (3) STATUS, (4) APPEND, (5) CHECK, (6) CLOSE, (7) EXPUNGE, (8) FETCH, (9) RENAME, (10) DELETE, (11) LIST, (12) SEARCH, (13) CREATE, or (14) UNSUBSCRIBE commands.

The weakness was published 11/29/2004 by Reed Arvin (muts) (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at archives.neohapsis.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2004-1211 since 12/14/2004. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 07/06/2025).

After 2 days, there has been an exploit disclosed. It is possible to download the exploit at securiteam.com. It is declared as highly functional. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 15867 (Mercury Mail Remote IMAP Server Remote Overflow), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Gain a shell remotely and running in the context r. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 74173 (Mercury Mail Remote IMAP Stack Buffer Overflow Vulnerability).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. Attack attempts may be identified with Snort ID 3007. Furthermore it is possible to detect and prevent this kind of attack with TippingPoint and the filter 4567.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (18318), Exploit-DB (663), Tenable (15867), SecurityFocus (BID 11775†) and OSVDB (12508†). Similar entry is available at VDB-23396. Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

Name

Version

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory corruption
CWE: CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Highly functional
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 15867
Nessus Name: Mercury Mail Remote IMAP Server Remote Overflow
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍

Saint ID: exploit_info/mercury_imap_delete
Saint Name: Mercury Mail IMAP DELETE command buffer overflow

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

MetaSploit ID: mercury_rename.rb
MetaSploit Name: Mercury/32 v4.01a IMAP RENAME Buffer Overflow
MetaSploit File: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍
Exploit Delay Time: 🔍
Snort ID: 3007
Snort Message: PROTOCOL-IMAP command overflow attempt
Snort Class: 🔍
TippingPoint: 🔍

McAfee IPS: 🔍
McAfee IPS Version: 🔍

SourceFire IPS: 🔍
PaloAlto IPS: 🔍
Fortigate IPS: 🔍

Timelineinfo

11/29/2004 🔍
11/29/2004 +0 days 🔍
11/29/2004 +0 days 🔍
11/30/2004 +0 days 🔍
12/01/2004 +1 days 🔍
12/02/2004 +1 days 🔍
12/02/2004 +0 days 🔍
12/09/2004 +6 days 🔍
12/14/2004 +5 days 🔍
01/10/2005 +27 days 🔍
03/10/2015 +3711 days 🔍
07/06/2025 +3771 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: archives.neohapsis.com
Researcher: Reed Arvin (muts)
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2004-1211 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2004-1211
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-23755
X-Force: 18318
SecurityFocus: 11775 - Mercury Mail Multiple Remote IMAP Stack Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities
Secunia: 13348 - Mercury Mail Transport System Command Handling Buffer Overflows, Moderately Critical
OSVDB: 12508 - Mercury Mail Transport System IMAP Server Multiple Command Remote Overflow
Vulnerability Center: 6370 - Buffer Overflow on Mercury Mail Server <= 4.01, Medium

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

Entryinfo

Created: 03/10/2015 15:27
Updated: 07/06/2025 19:13
Changes: 03/10/2015 15:27 (90), 05/27/2019 08:02 (7), 07/06/2025 19:13 (19)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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