CVE-2026-40017

Public on 2026-08-28
Modified on 2026-08-28
Description
An attacker that can send mail to a user can craft a message header whose values are chosen to collide in an internal hash table, which makes the IMAP THREAD command consume CPU disproportionate to the size of the message. This is a separate issue from CVE-2026-40014 and is not addressed by that fix. Whenever a mail client issues a THREAD command on the affected mailbox, this can cause degradation or denial of service for IMAP. Monitor system for abnormal CPU usage, kill the offending process and remove the offending message from the affected mailbox. Update to non-vulnerable version. No publicly available exploits are known.
Severity
Medium severity
Medium
See what this means
CVSS v3 Base Score
6.5
See breakdown

Affected Packages

Platform Package Release Date Advisory Status
Amazon Linux 2 - Core dovecot Pending Fix
Amazon Linux 2023 dovecot Pending Fix

CVSS Scores

Score Type Score Vector
Amazon Linux CVSSv3 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H