Email confidentiality loss via default 3DES cipher
Published May 5, 2025 · Updated Nov 3, 2025
Weak encryption in Request Tracker before 5.0.8 allows remote attackers to expose S/MIME email contents through birthday attacks. The S/MIME code uses OpenSSL's default des3 cipher for outgoing encryption, applying an obsolete 64-bit-block algorithm susceptible to collisions. Exploitation requires passive access to sufficient ciphertext for a high-complexity attack, and the reported consequence is limited to message confidentiality.
Summary
What happened
Weak encryption in Request Tracker before 5.0.8 allows remote attackers to expose S/MIME email contents through birthday attacks. The S/MIME code uses OpenSSL's default des3 cipher for outgoing encryption, applying an obsolete 64-bit-block algorithm susceptible to collisions. Exploitation requires passive access to sufficient ciphertext for a high-complexity attack, and the reported consequence is limited to message confidentiality.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-2545
- Published
- May 5, 2025
- Updated
- Nov 3, 2025
- Vendor
- Best Practical Solutions
- Product
- Request Tracker
- Classifications
- CWE-327, T1040
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 5, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Nov 3, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <5.0.8
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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