University of Washington IMAP up to 2007d C-Client Library rfc822_output_char memory corruption

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.8	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in University of Washington IMAP. The impacted element is the function rfc822_output_char of the component C-Client Library. The manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2008-5514. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in University of Washington IMAP and classified as critical. This issue affects the function rfc822_output_char of the component C-Client Library. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to 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. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

Off-by-one error in the rfc822_output_char function in the RFC822BUFFER routines in the University of Washington (UW) c-client library, as used by the UW IMAP toolkit before imap-2007e and other applications, allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via an e-mail message that triggers a buffer overflow.

The bug was discovered 12/16/2008. The weakness was published 12/23/2008 by Ludwig Nussel (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at redhat.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2008-5514 since 12/12/2008. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

It is declared as proof-of-concept. The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 7 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $0-$5k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 35338 (FreeBSD : imap-uw -- imap c-client buffer overflow (69a20ce4-dfee-11dd-a765-0030843d3802)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family FreeBSD Local Security Checks and running in the context l. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 165638 (SUSE Enterprise Linux Security Update (SUSE-SR:2009:001)).

Upgrading to version 2004 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published 3 weeks after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (47526), Tenable (35338), SecurityFocus (BID 32958†), OSVDB (52905†) and Secunia (SA33275†). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

• University of Washington

Name

• IMAP

Version

• 2000
• 2000a
• 2000b
• 2000c
• 2001
• 2001a
• 2002
• 2002a
• 2002b
• 2002c
• 2002d
• 2002e
• 2002f
• 2004
• 2004a
• 2004b
• 2004c
• 2004d
• 2004e
• 2004f
• 2004g
• 2006
• 2006a
• 2006b
• 2006c
• 2006d
• 2006e
• 2006f
• 2006g
• 2006h
• 2006i
• 2006j
• 2006k
• 2007
• 2007a
• 2007b
• 2007d

License

• free

Website

• Vendor: https://www.washington.edu/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.8

VulDB Base Score: 5.3
VulDB Temp Score: 4.8
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
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NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

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

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Proof-of-Concept

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Nessus ID: 35338
Nessus Name: FreeBSD : imap-uw -- imap c-client buffer overflow (69a20ce4-dfee-11dd-a765-0030843d3802)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍
Nessus Port: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 63264
OpenVAS Name: Fedora Core 9 FEDORA-2009-0371 (uw-imap)
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: 🔍

Upgrade: IMAP 2004

Timelineinfo

12/12/2008 🔍
12/16/2008 +4 days 🔍
12/16/2008 +0 days 🔍
12/16/2008 +0 days 🔍
12/22/2008 +6 days 🔍
12/23/2008 +1 days 🔍
12/23/2008 +0 days 🔍
12/28/2008 +5 days 🔍
01/11/2009 +14 days 🔍
01/12/2009 +1 days 🔍
03/17/2015 +2255 days 🔍
05/29/2025 +3726 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: washington.edu

Advisory: redhat.com
Researcher: Ludwig Nussel
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2008-5514 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2008-5514
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-45635
X-Force: 47526
SecurityFocus: 32958 - University of Washington IMAP c-client Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Secunia: 33275
OSVDB: 52905 - University of Washington - IMAP - c-client Buffer Overflow Issue
SecurityTracker: 1021485
Vulnerability Center: 20339 - University of Washington c-client Library in IMAP Toolkit < 2007e Remote DoS via an E-Mail Message, Medium
Vupen: ADV-2008-3490

Entryinfo

Created: 03/17/2015 16:11
Updated: 05/29/2025 14:26
Changes: 03/17/2015 16:11 (75), 08/22/2019 21:01 (12), 05/29/2025 14:26 (18)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:C84:103

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

Discussion

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