Courier IMAP < 6.0.1 Mail Server < 2.0.2 Stack Overflow DoS via Nested SEARCH Queries

Summary

CVECVE-2026-67194
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerVulnCheck
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-07-29 17:16:54 UTC
Updated2026-07-29 19:16:51 UTC
DescriptionCourier IMAP before 6.0.1 and Courier Mail Server before 2.0.2 allow authenticated IMAP users to crash the imapd process via deeply nested parenthesized SEARCH queries. The SEARCH command parser (alloc_search_key in searchinfo.C) recursively descends on nested parenthesized groups through a mutual recursion chain with alloc_search_andlist() and alloc_search_notkey(), with no depth limit. Courier IMAP has no overall command line length limit, making exploitation trivial. A single IMAP command with ~2500 nested parentheses overflows the 8MB default stack, causing SIGSEGV.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v4.0 7.1 HIGH from [email protected]

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Problem Types: CWE-674 | CWE-674 Uncontrolled Recursion


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
4.0[email protected]Secondary7.1HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C...
4.0CNACVSS7.1HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
3.1[email protected]Secondary6.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
3.1CNACVSS6.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS v4.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Sub Conf.
None
Sub Integrity
None
Sub Availability
None

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Svarshavchik Courier IMAP affected 6.0.1 semver Not specified
CNA Svarshavchik Courier Mail Server affected 2.0.2 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
packages.debian.org/sid/courier-imap [email protected] packages.debian.org
github.com/svarshavchik/courier-libs/commit/b5b5581aabea3efadf5e2944947f... [email protected] github.com
www.vulncheck.com/advisories/courier-imap-mail-server-stack-overflow-dos-via-ne... [email protected] www.vulncheck.com
github.com/svarshavchik/courier/releases/tag/courier%2F2.0.2%2F202606272... [email protected] github.com
github.com/svarshavchik/courier/releases/tag/courier-imap%2F6.0.1%2F2026... [email protected] github.com
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Vendor Comments And Credit

Discovery Credit

CNA: Tristan Madani (en)

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