Sophos Anti-Virus 3.4.6/3.78 MIME Boundary privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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4.8$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Sophos Anti-Virus 3.4.6/3.78. This impacts an unknown function of the component MIME Boundary Handler. The manipulation leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2004-2088. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. Furthermore, an exploit is available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Sophos Anti-Virus 3.4.6/3.78 (Anti-Malware Software). This issue affects an unknown code of the component MIME Boundary Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Impacted is integrity. The summary by CVE is:

Sophos Anti-Virus 3.78 allows remote attackers to bypass virus scanning by using a qmail generated Delivery Status Notification (DSN) where the original email is not included in the bounce message.

The weakness was published 02/12/2004 with Sophos (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at sophos.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2004-2088 since 05/19/2005. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1068 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

It is declared as proof-of-concept. We expect the 0-day to have been worth approximately $25k-$100k. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 38315 (Sophos Antivirus Scan Bypass Vulnerability).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at sophos.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (15192), SecurityFocus (BID 9650†), OSVDB (45184†), Secunia (SA10855†) and SecurityTracker (ID 1009042†). sophos.com is providing further details. Similar entry is available at VDB-514. Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

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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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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
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Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Patch: sophos.com

Timelineinfo

02/12/2004 🔍
02/12/2004 +0 days 🔍
02/12/2004 +0 days 🔍
02/12/2004 +0 days 🔍
02/12/2004 +0 days 🔍
02/13/2004 +1 days 🔍
05/19/2005 +461 days 🔍
02/21/2006 +278 days 🔍
05/15/2008 +814 days 🔍
07/06/2025 +6260 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: sophos.com

Advisory: sophos.com
Researcher: http://www.sophos.com
Organization: Sophos
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2004-2088 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2004-2088
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-515
X-Force: 15192 - Sophos Anti-Virus email virus may not be detected, Medium Risk
SecurityFocus: 9650 - Sophos Anti-Virus Delivery Status Notification Handling Scanner Bypass Vulnerability
Secunia: 10855 - Sophos Anti-Virus MIME Header Handling Vulnerability, Moderately Critical
OSVDB: 45184 - Sophos Anti-Virus qmail Generated Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Scanning Bypass
SecurityTracker: 1009042 - Sophos Anti-Virus Can Be Hung With Specially Crafted MIME Headers
Vulnerability Center: 10393 - Sophos Anti-Virus 3.78 Scan Bypass via Malformed DSN, Medium

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

Entryinfo

Created: 02/12/2004 17:31
Updated: 07/06/2025 08:18
Changes: 02/12/2004 17:31 (77), 06/07/2017 16:04 (10), 07/06/2025 08:18 (18)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:68B:103

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