Service interruption via persistent NOOP memory allocations
Published Mar 27, 2026 · Updated Mar 27, 2026
Uncontrolled resource consumption in Open-Xchange Dovecot Pro 2.3.0 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to interrupt service. The imap-login NOOP parser retains about 1 MB while processing 4,000 paired parentheses and permits the allocation to persist when no terminating LF arrives. Roughly 1,000 concurrent IMAP connections can exhaust the process VSZ limit, kill the process, and terminate other proxied connections.
Summary
What happened
Uncontrolled resource consumption in Open-Xchange Dovecot Pro 2.3.0 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to interrupt service. The imap-login NOOP parser retains about 1 MB while processing 4,000 paired parentheses and permits the allocation to persist when no terminating LF arrives. Roughly 1,000 concurrent IMAP connections can exhaust the process VSZ limit, kill the process, and terminate other proxied connections.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-27857
- Published
- Mar 27, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 27, 2026
- Vendor
- Open-Xchange GmbH
- Product
- Dovecot Pro
- Classifications
- CWE-400, T1499.003
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 27, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 27, 2026Record 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 <=2.3.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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