Guessed-message disclosure via reused IMAP compression state
Published Aug 28, 2026 · Updated Aug 28, 2026
Information disclosure in affected OX Dovecot CE and Pro releases allows remote attackers to confirm guessed message bodies via IMAP traffic sizes. The IMAP server reuses one compression state across responses, making compressed response lengths depend on attacker-supplied mail and other messages. The attacker must send mail to the user, observe that user's IMAP traffic sizes, and target a session with IMAP compression enabled; arbitrary unknown-content recovery was not demonstrated.
Summary
What happened
Information disclosure in affected OX Dovecot CE and Pro releases allows remote attackers to confirm guessed message bodies via IMAP traffic sizes. The IMAP server reuses one compression state across responses, making compressed response lengths depend on attacker-supplied mail and other messages. The attacker must send mail to the user, observe that user's IMAP traffic sizes, and target a session with IMAP compression enabled; arbitrary unknown-content recovery was not demonstrated.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-40203
- Published
- Aug 28, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 28, 2026
- Vendor
- Open-Xchange GmbH
- Product
- OX Dovecot CE
- Classifications
- CWE-205, CWE-200, T1040
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 28, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 28, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=2.3.0 <2.4.5
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.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo